JERUSALEM: Israel government has announced that a recent plan to permit flights for Palestinians from the southern Ramon airport was postponed to an indefinite date.

"When a new date is announced, we will update the media and the public," Israel Airports Authority spokesman Ofer Lefler said in a statement on Sunday. The  announcement came a day before the first such flight was scheduled to depart, according to reports.

The Ramon Airport in the Negev desert, near the resort city of Eilat, would allow Palestinian passengers from the occupied West Bank to fly to Turkish cities of Istanbul and Antalya through flights operated by Turkish carriers on August 22, the Airport Authority announced earlier in the month.

According to a local newspaper, Jerusalem Post, the Palestinian Authority has openly rejected the proposal, claiming that it was not coordinated with the Palestinians and violates their right to an independent airport. Jordan is currently the only exit point for Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Ramon airport was opened in January 2019, with the first international flight landing there two months later. It has been struggling with a decrease in passengers since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Palestin govt saw the arrangement as a bypass of Palestinians' rights to have an independent airport. “It has affirmed the Israeli step has not been coordinated with the Palestinian Authority,” spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Communications told earlier.

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