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Palestinian Airlines Takes Flight

<i> Reuters</i>

Jubilant Palestinian pilgrims inaugurated their national airline Friday but had to take off from an Egyptian airport because Israel had blocked flights from the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.

“Today, when I know I am flying on my airline, the Palestinian airline, I am happy, very happy,” said Essam Younis Mohammad, before he and 95 others boarded one of two Fokker 50 planes for the journey to Saudi Arabia.

Two Palestinian Airlines flights took off from Port Said Airport in northern Egypt on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Hours later, a Saudi Arabian control tower operator said the planes had landed in Jidda, completing the first regular flights by the Palestinian Authority’s newly established airline.

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