The Palestinian Authority is to inaugurate its first airport, which has been built in the Gaza Strip, in a few hours' time The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, will meet the first plane which is expected to fly in from Cairo with Egyptian celebrities and government ministers on board.

Israel will control security at the airport, vetting who comes and goes.

But the BBC Middle East correspondent says the airport will offer the Palestinians a lifeline to the outside world.

And our correspondent says it will be held up as proof of the inevitability of Palestinian statehood.