Radical restaurant: Few Palestinians have the opportunity to board a passenger plane. Photo / Majdi Mohammed, AP
Radical restaurant: Few Palestinians have the opportunity to board a passenger plane. Photo / Majdi Mohammed, AP
Few Palestinians in the occupied West Bank get to board an airplane these days. The territory has no civilian airport and those who can afford a plane ticket must catch their flights in neighboring Jordan. But just outside the northern city of Nablus, a pair of twins is offering people the next best thing.
Khamis al-Sairafi and brother Ata have converted an old Boeing 707 into a cafe and restaurant for customers to board.
"Ninety-nine percent of Palestinians have never used an airplane. Only our ambassadors, diplomats, ministers and mayors use them. Now they see an airplane and it is something for them," said Khamis al-Sairafi.
The Boeing 707 is a novel sight in Palestine. Photo / Majdi Mohammed, AP
After a quarter century of effort, the brothers opened "The Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop al-Sairafi" on July 21.
Families, friends and couples turned up for drinks in the cafe situated below the body of the plane. Many others came to take photos inside at a price of five shekels (about $2) per person.
Customers said they were motivated to visit after seeing pictures of the renovated plane circulating online. "For a long time, I have wanted to see this place. I wish I had seen this place before it was turned into a café," said customer Majdi Khalid.
Khamis first saw the derelict Boeing aircraft near the Israeli city of Safed. Photo / Oded Balilty
For years, the jetliner sat along the side of a major highway in the northern West Bank, providing endless fodder for conversation for passersby baffled by its hulking presence.
The 60-year-old identically dressed twins' dream of transforming the airplane into a cafe and restaurant was born in the late 1990s when Khamis saw the derelict Boeing aircraft near the northern Israeli city of Safed.
"Having an aircraft in the Palestinian territories is such a strange idea that I'm sure the project will be a success," Khamis told First Post news.
At the time, the plane already had an illustrious history. The aircraft was used by the Israeli government from 1961 to 1993 and flew then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin to the United States in 1978 to sign Israel's historic peace agreement with Egypt, according to Channel 12 TV.
The twins are sure the radical restaurant location will be a success. Photo / Majdi Mohammed, AP
It was later bought by three Israeli business partners who dreamed of turning it into a restaurant, but the project was abandoned following disagreements with local authorities, the station said.
After tracking down one of the owners, the brothers agreed to buy it for $140,000 in 1999. They spent an additional $70,000 for licenses, permits and to transport it to the West Bank.
Khamis said the then-mayor of Nablus, Ghassan Shakaa, quickly approved the transportation and renovation of the airplane.
The jet plane project has been up in the air since the 1990s. Photo / Majdi Mohammed, AP
Moving the plane to Nablus was a 13-hour operation, requiring the wings to be dismantled and the temporary closure of roads in Israel and the West Bank. At the time, Israel and the Palestinians were engaged in peace talks and movement back and forth was relatively easy.
