Blockade violation or aid shipment?
Airline spokesperson says ‘we will operate daily flights to Beirut on Monday; we were in touch with the Lebanese authorities and we received approval from them to fly directly to Beirut’; officials in Jerusalem: Plane will carry humanitarian aid, flight authorized by Israel a week ago
"We will operate daily flights to Beirut tomorrow. Flight 422 will leave Doha at 12:30 local time and arrive at 15:35 Beirut time,” Salam al-Shawa said.
Asked if the airline had contacted Israeli authorities before deciding to fly directly to Beirut, Shawa said: “We were in touch with the Lebanese authorities and we received approval from them to fly directly to Beirut".
She said it would be the first direct flight to Beirut by any airline.
However, officials in Jerusalem said the Qatari plane will be carrying humanitarian aid, adding that the flight was authorized by Israel a week ago.
Lebanese Transport Minister Mohammed Safadi told reporters on Sunday the government favored opening Beirut airport to any planes willing to ignore Israeli restrictions.
'We almost automatically say yes'
The position of the prime minister (Fouad Siniora) and my position too is that Beirut international airport be ready to receive any planes that want to break the air blockade,” he said after a meeting with the speaker of parliament.Israel has kept an air and sea embargo on Lebanon since its 34-day war with Lebanon’s Hizbullah ended on Aug. 14. Israel says the blockade was aimed at preventing Hizbullah rearming.
Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, denied that Israel was enforcing a “Blockade” of Lebanon, noting that airplanes and ships were entering and leaving Lebanon daily with Israeli permission.
Regev said the blockade would be removed as soon as the Lebanese army and UN Peacekeeping forces were in full control of the country’s borders.
“In the current situation, all traffic into and out of Lebanon must be coordinated,” Regev said. “When people approach us, we almost automatically say yes.” The Israeli official said he was “Hopeful” that Lebanese and international forces would be deployed soon and that all restrictions on traffic would be lifted.
Last month, it allowed Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines and Royal Jordanian to fly to Beirut on condition that all flights pass through Amman first for security reasons. All ships and aircraft require Israeli permission to use Lebanese waters and airspace.
