To: d[-_-]b who wrote (796967 ) 7/25/2014 1:03:32 PM From: bentway Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 1578864 Gaza could have used all the tunnel concrete to build a port and a new airport to transfer goods directly. You really are a dumbass if you believe Israel would ever allow Gaza to do either of those things.en.wikipedia.org After 1967[ edit ]Before World War I , Gaza was a busy port. In 2006, after the election of Hamas , Israel imposed a naval blockade . Restrictions were tightened in 2007 after Hamas took full control. [12] Several attempts to break the Israeli blockade were made. [13] Israel has prevented most ships from docking at the port of Gaza, but has allowed at least two boats, carrying activists and some supplies to reach the port. [14] An Iranian ship sailing from Bandar Abbas to the port of Gaza, with humanitarian aid, was diverted during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict . [15] en.wikipedia.org The construction of the airport was provided for in the Oslo II Agreement of 1995. The airport was built with funding from Japan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia , Spain, and Germany and designed by Moroccan architects (modeled after Casablanca airport) and engineers funded by Morocco's King Hassan II . The total cost was $86 million. After a year of construction, it opened on 24 November 1998; attendees at the opening ceremony included Yasser Arafat and US President Bill Clinton . At the time, the opening of the airport was described as evidence of progress toward Palestinian statehood. [2] The airport got international airport codes ( IATA : GZA , ICAO : LVGZ ). The airport was twinned with Mohammed V International Airport , in Casablanca , Morocco. Damaged building Yasser Arafat International Airport Satellite photo of the runway The radar station and control tower were destroyed by Israel Defense Forces aircraft on 4 December 2001, after the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada . Bulldozers cut the runway apart on 10 January 2002. [3] [4] [5] From 2001 to 2006, airport staff still manned the ticket counters and baggage areas, [5] although no aircraft flew into or out of the airport during that period. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) strongly condemned Israel for the destruction of the airport, which it deemed a violation of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Montreal Convention, 1971). The ICAO also urged Israel to take measures to restore the facility to allow its reopening. [3]