November 30, 2008	Sunday	Zilhaj 1, 1429

RAFAH, Nov 29: Palestinian pilgrims bound for Makkah were prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip via Egypt on Saturday as the enclave’s Hamas Islamist rulers and the rival leadership in the West Bank traded blame for the hold-up.

The pilgrims, hoping to reach Saudi Arabia next week for the annual Haj, said Hamas police set up checkpoints 300 metres from the Rafah border post with Egypt and turned them away. Hamas security also barred journalists from the border area of the town of Rafah.

Hamas officials blamed Egypt, saying it had not opened the border as agreed, while Cairo insisted the crossing was open.

The root of the problem appeared to lie in disputes between the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, which each controls one of the two Palestinian territories, and also involves Saudi Arabia’s policy on issuing visas to Palestinians.

At Rafah, a 60-year-old pilgrim who gave his name as Abu Abdullah said: “I am not with Fatah and not with Hamas. I wanted to worship God and to go on the haj before I die.

“Sadly, the schism has now spilled into our religion.”

Saudi Arabia says it has granted visas only to Palestinians who registered for the Haj through the Palestinian Authority, controlled by President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular Fatah faction in the West Bank. Some 3,000 people in Gaza have done so.

A further 3,000 Gazans have tried to arrange visas through Hamas, which seized control of the enclave last year. Hamas is appealing to Saudi Arabia to relent and give them visas. Some Hamas leaders have said that unless it does so, they will prevent anyone leaving Gaza for the pilgrimage to Makkah.

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS: At the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza, spokesman Ehad al-Ghsain denied halting pilgrims: “We are not sending people back. The Egyptians are keeping the crossing closed.”

An Egyptian official insisted the crossing was open to pilgrims and would remain so until Monday. Egypt has mostly kept Rafah closed since Hamas routed Fatah in Gaza last year.

Jamal Bawatma, Minister of Religious Affairs for the Palestinian Authority, speaking by telephone from Mecca, accused Hamas of a “crime” against the pilgrimage. “Saudi Arabia only recognises the Palestinian Authority which represents all Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said.

—Reuters