FIRST PALESTINIANS AIRPORT

THE opening of the Palestinians' first airport, in the presence of US President Bill Clinton, was a symbol of the hopes for independence and peace kindled by the Oslo accords.

But 24 years later after Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed the first of the historic agreements on September 13, 1993, the airport in Gaza lies in tatters, along with Palestinian hopes for an independent state.

Today the arrival halls remain in place, but much of the rest of the site is covered in piles of rubbish and rubble the remnants of years of war and neglect.

The runway, 60 metres [65 yards] wide is scattered with refuse, dragged in by donkey cart from nearby refugee camps.

Daifallah al-Akhtar, the chief engineer of the airport, admitted he wept on a recent visit to the terminal.

''We built the airport to be the first symbol of sovereignty,'' he said. ''Now you don't see anything but destruction and ruin.''

'Signs of Freedom' : When the airport opened in late 1998 t was one of the most tangible symbols of the Oslo accords.

Many saw the deals as paving the way for the to the creation of an independent Palestinian state, but  their five-year transitional period expired without a resolution to the conflict.

The airport was opened despite the assassination of the most senior Israeli signatory to Oslo, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, by a Jewish radical opposed to the agreements.

By 1998 the accords were fraying, but Clinton, along with his wife Hillary, still attended the ceremony to inaugurate the Yasser Arafat International Airport. [Agencies]