A general view of the new Ramon International Airport in Timna Valley, north of Eilat, Israel, June 13, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen / File.

JNS.org – Several dozen Palestinians traveled to Cyprus from a southern Israeli airport on Monday as part of a pilot program allowing Palestinians from Judea and Samaria to fly abroad.

According to Amir Assi, a strategic consultant who planned the flights, a total of 43 inhabitants of the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah and Nablus took off from Ramon International Airport bound for Larnaca, Cyprus, reported the Associated Press.

The move was part of a series of gestures Israel is making to improve Palestinian living conditions in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The pilot program has been in the works for months. Palestinians living in the West Bank typically travel to Jordan to catch international flights, as they need special permission to travel via Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport.