First flight PALESTINIAN President Yasser Arafat took the first flight from Gaza international airport as he headed to Paris yesterday for talks with French President Jacques Chirac just one day after inaugurating the airfield.
More than 4,000 people, including cheering Palestinians and dignitaries, were on hand to welcome seven inaugural flights which arrived in quick succession on Tuesday from Arab and European capitals. An EgyptAir airbus was the first to land, carrying a delegation headed by Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif and including a mix of celebrities, businessmen and government ministers.
Under a compromise formula, plainclothes Israeli security agents will work out of sight, alongside Palestinian police and will have the power to search all passengers, baggage and aircraft, primarily to prevent weapons smuggling. But the EgyptAir crew refused to let Israeli officials board their aircraft for luggage checks.
Moussa talks FOREIGN Minister Amr Moussa is scheduled to hold separate meetings with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon next Monday in Washington to review the implementation of the Wye memorandum and the political requirements for the final status talks due to open officially this week.
The meetings will take place on the fringe of a US-sponsored conference of countries and organisations providing economic assistance to the PA. At the conference Moussa will make clear that economic assistance is no replacement for a stable political environment.
Since 1993 Egypt has been providing the Palestinian Authority with $15 million annual in-kind aid.
