Palestinian twins turn Boeing 707 plane into restaurant

The aircraft was bought by the Al Sairafi brothers from its Israeli owner for $100,000

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  Palestinian twin brothers Atallah and Khamis Al Sairafi, 60, wave from the cockpit of a Boeing 707 being converted into a restaurant in Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

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  The aircraft being converted into a restaurant that the brothers are calling The Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop Al Sairafi Nablus.

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  Atallah and Khamis Al Sairafi climb into the fuselage of the Boeing 707. Electricians and painters are working on the aircraft, which will become a restaurant and events hall.

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  A technician drills holes in the cockpit of the aircraft in Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The plane was bought by the twins, former scrap metal traders, for $100,000 from an Israeli in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel.

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  A youth stands in the cockpit of the aircraft being converted into a restaurant by Palestinian twins Atallah and Khamis All Sairafi

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  The brothers high-five each other inside the Boeing 707.

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  The Al Sairafi twins, former scrap metal traders, expect to open their plane's doors to customers within a month.

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  The fuselage of a Boeing 707 being converted into a restaurant in the city of Nablus.

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  Atallah and Khamis Al Sairafi are calling their project The Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop Al Sairafi Nablus.

Palestinian workers in the occupied West Bank are putting the final touches on a decommissioned Boeing 707 aircraft to ready it for a new kind of take-off: as a restaurant.

Its enterprising owners, twin brothers Ata and Khamis Al Sairafi, 60, expect to welcome their first customers within weeks at the site in an isolated mountain area near Nablus.

Inside the old jet's cabin, the seats have been stripped out and the window panes removed. Tables will soon be fitted in the fuselage, which has been painted white with laminate wooden floors.

The twins want to call their restaurant The Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop Al Sairafi Nablus. AFP

The brothers plan to call their aviation-themed eatery, which is decorated with Palestinian and Jordanian flags, The Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop Al Sairafi Nablus.

"We will start by providing hookahs," said Khamis, for people who enjoy smoking tobacco through water pipes, before later expanding the business into an event space.

"The cockpit will be a suitable place for any newlyweds who come to us for their wedding ceremony."

The Al Sairafi brothers, identical twins who were sporting matching yellow shirts, khaki shorts and red sneakers during the interview, are known for their interest in unusual initiatives.

The cockpit will be a suitable place for any newlyweds who come to us for their wedding ceremony

Khamis Al Sairafi

Ata said he and his brother were working as scrap metal traders two decades ago when he learnt about a 1980s-era passenger plane sitting near Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.

They purchased it in 1999, even though there was, and still is, no airport in the Palestinian Territories, usually forcing residents who want to fly abroad to travel via Jordan.

'Strange idea'

The brothers negotiated with the Israeli owner, who sold it to them for $100,000, with the engines removed.

"After we bought it, we had to move it from Israel ... which is a complicated process," Ata said.

The plane was bought by the Al Sairafi twins from an Israeli owner in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel in 1999. AFP

The twins paid an Israeli company $20,000 to move the jet to the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since it conquered the territory along with east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967.

The brothers said the 13-hour transport was co-ordinated between the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Key roads were closed so the plane could be rolled on a giant tow truck, its wings temporarily separated, to its current location.

"Loads of media outlets covered it, and the Israeli police intervened to organise the transfer," recalled Khamis.

"We received the plane, which dates back to the 1980s, without any equipment that would enable it to fly," Ata said.

The twins said they have hoped to run a restaurant out of the plane since around 2000, but the launch faltered with the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

"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 coronavirus also prevented us from doing so," Khamis said.

As they returned to their long-delayed passion project, the twins purchased a rickety retired gangway from Ben Gurion Airport, its name still visible in Hebrew and English characters.

The project faces one more, environmental, challenge. The plane sits on property abutting a waste sorting station which the twins are trying to convince local authorities to move elsewhere.

Ultimately, they said they are hopeful their project will finally take wing after being grounded for nearly a quarter of a century.

"Having an aircraft in the Palestinian territories," said Khamis, "is such a strange idea that I'm sure the project will be a success".