section_path: Transportation/Airport
section_name: Airport
paragraph_text: Airport
  
  In the past, Jerusalem was also served by the local Jerusalem International Airport, locally known as Atarot Airport. It was the first airport built in the British Mandate of Palestine. Palestinians considered the Atarot Airport as a "symbol of Palestinian sovereignty". The airport falls beyond Green Line. After 1948 war, it came under control of Jordan. Following the Six Day War of 1967, the airport came under control of Israel. With increase of violence in the second intifada, Atarot Airport ceased operation in 2000. Today Jerusalem is served by Ben Gurion Airport, some 50 km (30 mi) northwest of the Jerusalem, on the route to Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway runs non-stop from Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon railway station to the airport and began operation in 2018.
  
  Australian businessman Kevin Bermeister proposed a masterplan of Jerusalem, which also includes the development of an airport for Jerusalem in the Jordan Valley, near Jericho. The airport is sought to be a joint Israeli-Palestinian airport. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh have also appealed to Israeli authorities to redevelop the airport. In 2021, the Israeli government planned to redevelop Atarot Airport as a joint Israeli–Palestinian airport. The new Atarot Airport will include two separate Israeli and Palestinian terminals.