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While the Israeli and Egyptian authorities bicker over which border
crossing they should use, 1200 Palestinian pilgrims on their way home
from the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia are stranded in Aqaba,
on the Egypt-Jordan border.
Egyptian authorities are demanding that the pilgrims reenter the Gaza
Strip through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, after
accusations by Israel that Egypt was not exercising proper control over
the Egyptian-Palestinian-International controlled Rafah crossing (the
Rafah crossing is nominally under the control of the Palestinian
Authority, but Israeli officials control the presence of international
observers, and often remove them so the border cannot be opened. It has
remained closed more than 70% of the time this past year).
The two nations have traded accusations
about the Gaza border, with Israeli officials accusing Egypt of allowing
Palestinians to smuggle weapons into Gaza from Egypt, and Egyptian
officials accusing Israel of fabricating a videotape showing alleged
smugglers.
The Palestinians who are stranded in
Jordan (after having flown over Egypt to Jordan from Saudi Arabia, as
this is the only route Israel would allow) have not been allowed by the
Egyptian government to enter Egypt until the conflict is resolved.
They remain in Aqaba, many without
provisions, having spent all their money on the Hajj (pilgrimage).
Taking the Hajj to the Muslim holy city of Mecca is one of the five main
tenets of Islam, along with taking no god but Allah, praying five times
a day, giving alms to the poor and fasting during the month of Ramadan.
But Palestinians who live in the Gaza
Strip, with its borders sealed and no way in or out, even for dire
medical cases, have found the route to Mecca extremely difficult and
circuitous this year. Israeli officials put one roadblock after another,
and Palestinian officials negotiated tirelessly until an agreement could
be made on a route transporting the pilgrims to Mecca. Now, with the
pilgrimage completed, the way home for these pilgrims is proving just as
difficult. |
