Here come the Ramon Airport conspiracy theories

Well, this was inevitable.

Palestinian and Hezbollah media are claiming that Israel's plan to allow Palestinians to use Ramon Airport in the Negev is really part of a sinister plot.

In an article that's been published in multiple news sites, Arab "experts" claim that Israel's allowing Palestinian from the West Bank to travel via Ramon Airport is only the first stage towards forcing Arab Israelis to use the same airport, to leave Ben Gurion airport for Jews only. 

Ameer Makhoul, an Arab Christian from Haifa who can use Ben Gurion anytime he wants, insists that Ramon Airport will become a nightmare crossing, adding hours to Palestinian travel times that Israeli checkpoints supposedly do. He compares Palestinians using Ramon Airport to South African apartheid. 

Arab Member of the Knesset Mazen Ghanem echoes this theory, saying, "It is clear that Israel, with political malice, is turning the airport into a place of suffering to deport Palestinians who wish to travel from the West Bank." He adds that the airport will be a place of "suffering that will be worse than what is happening to the Palestinians at the Erez checkpoint and the Rafah crossing, which are known for the endless journeys of Palestinians through them torment and tragedy."

This is all insane. If Ramon Airport becomes a terrible place to travel to, then the Palestinians can still travel through Jordan as they have been, right? No one is forcing them to use Ramon Airport - are they?

According to this Knesset member, the Palestinians will have no choice but to go through Ramon. He doesn't exactly describe how, but he emphasizes that for the Palestinians who do use Ramon, no one should blame them because they have no choice.

This is all a crazed fever dream.

But meanwhile, there is another benefit to Palestinians from even the possibility of Ramon Airport opening for them. 

While Jordan has been strenuously protesting the airport as an attack, because of the potential loss of revenue of captive Palestinian customers for their Amman airport, politicians and some media realize that the nightmare of travel though the Allenby Bridge and to the airport is the main reason Palestinians would choose Ramon to begin with.

Jordanian MP Khalil Attia publicly asked 20 questions to the Jordanian prime minister, asking why the Palestinian experience in traveling through Amman is so lengthy and expensive. Palestinians from Jerusalem without Jordanian citizenship need to purchase a temporary Jordanian passport every few years, at a cost of $300, for example; there are other fees at the Jordan River crossings. Palestinians have to go through a gauntlet of lines and checkpoints, even on the Jordanian side, in order to travel. Jordan's waiting areas for Palestinians don't even have air conditioning. Palestinians cannot have their bags checked normally; after security checks the luggage is piled into a room where people have to find their own luggage which can take hours. There is no mechanism for Palestinian complaints about the Jordanian procedures. 

Attia also listed no less than 15 different procedures with lines that Palestinians traveling to Amman's airport must go through. 

In order to remain competitive with Ramon, Jordan will need to improve their own policies regarding Palestinian travelers, whom they have up until now treated like cattle. 

It looks likely that even for Palestinians who refuse to use Ramon Airport, Jordan is being pressured to improve their travel experience.

Amazing what a little competition can do. 

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Human Rights Watch doesn't give a damn about human rights, example #2843

Ken Roth, the outgoing head of Human Rights Watch, revealed how little he actually cares about human rights yet again, in just one tweet:

The Israeli government should not be conditioning Palestinians' basic rights (to be able to travel from a nearby airport) on "the Palestinians withdraw[ing] their charge of war crimes at the International Criminal Court." Justice isn't a bargaining chip.https://t.co/RQF6jcx6C9

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 23, 2022

First of all, is there a basic human right "to be able to travel from a nearby airport"? Is HRW lobbying for airports to be built in remote areas of the world because of this "basic right"? 

Why is it a violation of basic rights for Palestinians to travel through national borders with Egypt or Jordan to get to an airport - and they can only achieve this right by crossing a different national border with Israel to travel to the Negev?

Secondly, did Israel really condition travel through Ramon on the ICC?

The Guardian article that he is referring to says:

A controversial plan to allow Palestinians to fly to Turkey from southern Israel’s Ramon airport has been shelved on the eve of the first scheduled departure.

Israel’s airport authority announced earlier this month that Ramon in the Negev desert, near the Red Sea city of Eilat, would begin allowing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to travel on Turkish-operated flights to Antalya and Istanbul from 22 August.

The proposal is believed to be part of a package of goodwill measures from Israel to the Palestinians unveiled to the US president, Joe Biden, during his visit to the region last month, reportedly offered on the condition that the Palestinians withdraw their charge of war crimes at the international criminal court.

This article was written before Israel did a pilot flight yesterday to Larnaca, Cyprus, with Palestinians aboard - but Roth wrote his tweet afterwards. From all reports, Israel has every intention to continue with this plan and offer Palestinians who are not a security risk the ability to fly out of Israel.  

In other words, it is clear today that Israel is not conditioning the use of the airport on Palestinians withdrawing their charges at the ICC and that the rumor floated by the Guardian is incorrect - but Ken Roth reported it as fact.

However, there was another part of the Guardian report about someone limiting the rights of Palestinians to travel: the Palestinian Authority itself!

Remarks attributed to a Palestinian ministry of transport source published in Palestinian outlets last week suggested the PA would fine or otherwise punish people who sought to use Ramon.

“The PA has no right to do or say anything about Ramon airport. They have permits and VIP cards so they and their families can travel through Ben Gurion, while we have to go to Jordan and spend one day there before the flight, and spend money,” a Palestinian critic of the PA said in a popular TikTok post.

“So do not sell us patriotism, and don’t say it is without coordinating with the PA. All the PA officials care about is their personal interests.”

Haaretz adds, "The Palestinian Authority also condemned the flight, and announced that it would impose sanctions on the passengers. "

If Ken Roth cares about the right to travel, why doesn't he mention that the only ones trying to ban that for Palestinians are their own leaders?

Beyond that, it is clear that for Roth, the right to travel is not as important as his bashing Israel. 

Here we have a plan, and a successful pilot, to allow Palestinians to travel through Israel to the rest of the world on their own passports. This plan saves them time and money. They are treated respectfully and equally with the Jewish passengers on the same flights. If this was really a human rights issue, Ken Roth should be celebrating. Instead, he parrots an obviously false rumor against Israel.

That is proof positive that, to Human Rights Watch, spouting malicious lies about Israel is more important than what they call "basic rights."

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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

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