The twins negotiated with their owner until he agreed to sell them for $100,000
Two Palestinians convert a Boeing 707 into a cafe and wedding hall
Twins Atta and Khamis Al-Serafi - from Nablus - are known for their interest in exotic projects.
AFP
The cafe and wedding hall will be opened first.
AFP
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Electricity and paint workers in Wadi Al-Badhan, near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, are busy maintaining an old-made Boeing 707, not for take-off, but rather to convert it into a cafe, restaurant and wedding hall at the request of its two owners, the twin brothers.
Atta and Khamis Al-Serafi (60 years old) expect to start operating their project, which they called "The Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop Al-Serafi Nablus", and receive customers within less than a month.
Inside the plane, all the seats were dismantled and brown paper was plastered on the floor, and one of the workers was busy restoring the cockpit, plating it with white boards, and dismantling the remaining devices inside it that hinder work.
Khamis says: "In the beginning, this plane will be a café that serves hookahs and for holding wedding parties, and then we will transform it into a restaurant."
According to El-Serafy, the plane will be "a convenient place for any newlyweds who come to us for their wedding ceremony."
Tables will be placed next to the windows, which remain as they are.
Although the project is not completed, it is of interest to visitors who arrive to view the aircraft's exterior.
100 thousand dollars
The twins, from Nablus, are known for their interest in exotic projects.
They bought the plane in 1999 from the Israeli owner, even though there was no airport for the Palestinians.
Palestinians travel abroad through Jordan, and in rare cases through the Israeli Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, after obtaining a special permit from the Israeli authorities.
Atta tells AFP how the idea came to him and his brother in 1999, when he learned of the existence of a plane in the "Kiryat Shmona" area inside Israel, so the twins negotiated with its owner until he agreed to sell it for $ 100,000.
"After we bought it, we had to move it from Israel to the city of Nablus, which is a complicated process," Atta says.
The two brothers agreed that an Israeli company would undertake the transportation process, at a cost of $20,000.
"I still remember that day when a large number of media outlets were present, and the Israeli police intervened to organize the transfer," which lasted 13 hours, recalls Khamis, who was standing next to Atta and the two wore similar clothes.
According to the two brothers, the transportation process was coordinated between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and major streets were closed for the passage of the plane loaded with a giant tow truck until it reached its current location.
Today, the plane, on which the Palestinian and Jordanian flags are drawn, is located in an isolated area of 18 dunums, between two giant mountains.
Atta says, "We received the plane, which dates back to the eighties of the twentieth century, devoid of any equipment that would enable it to fly."
The airframe appeared complete, but actually without engines.
The twin project of converting the plane into a restaurant goes back about 20 years, but its launch faltered due to the second Palestinian intifada.
Khamis says: "The events in the Palestinian territories at that time hindered the completion of our project, and we thought of reviving it two years ago, but the spread of the Corona virus also prevented us from doing so."
To get on the plane, the two brothers, who work in import and export, finally bought a ladder to get on the plane, from Ben Gurion Airport.
The name of the Israeli airport written on it can be seen in both Hebrew and English.
The project faces an environmental problem represented in the presence of a waste dump near it, and the Serafi twins say they are in contact with the competent authorities to solve it.
Khamis says: "The presence of an aircraft in the Palestinian territories is a strange idea, so I am sure that the project will be feasible, especially after all the area is prepared, as we planned."
"We will start work by providing hookahs, and we hope to reach what we want after that," he added.
• The project to convert the plane into a restaurant dates back to the year 2000, but its launch faltered due to the second Palestinian intifada.
• The plane on which the Palestinian and Jordanian flags are drawn is located in an isolated area of 18 dunums, between two giant mountains.
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