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Egyptian forces on border
Photo: Reuters
Pilgrims seeking to enter Gaza
Photo: Reuters

Palestinian pilgrims return to Gaza

More than 2,000 pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia begin pouring into Gaza Strip, after being stranded in Egypt for five days. Cairo initially refused to let pilgrims pass through Rafah crossing, and decision is likely to spark tensions with Israel

Hundreds of Palestinians began pouring into the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Wednesday despite Israeli objections, ending a five-day standoff that left them stranded in Egypt after returning from an Islamic pilgrimage.

 

Two people, including one traveler holding a large cloth bag, were the first to pass through the Rafah terminal, greeted by green-vested representatives of Hamas, the Islamic group that rules Gaza. The two were followed by a flood of returning pilgrims walking across the border.

 

The pilgrims left Gaza last month to make a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. They became trapped in Egypt on their way home last weekend when the Egyptian government said they would have to cross through an Israeli-controlled crossing instead of going directly into Gaza through Rafah.

 

Israel, which considers Hamas a terrorist group, fears that some of the travelers are carrying large sums of money for Gaza's Hamas rulers.

 

Fearing capture by the Israelis, Hamas leaders among the pilgrims refused to go through the alternate crossing. The pilgrims rioted in temporary camps set up for them by Egypt and have threatened a hunger strike.

 

Estimates originally put the number of pilgrims at 3,000, but Egyptian security officials said Wednesday that 2,152 were slated to return to Gaza.

 

Israeli official: Decision contradict understandings

An Egyptian official said Wednesday that Israel had been "informed" of the Egyptian decision to let the pilgrims back.

 

But Israeli defense officials said Israel hadn't approved their return and that Egypt's decision to let them back into Gaza "contradicts understandings" between Israel and Egypt. Officials in the Israeli foreign ministry said they had not been informed about Egypt's decision.

 

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas lawmaker who came to the crossing to greet the returning pilgrims, praised Egypt for its decision.

 

"This is a humanitarian case since the start. Egypt's position was laudable. We thank Egypt," al-Masri said.

 

The pilgrims' return seemed likely to inflame tensions between Israel and Egypt. Friction between the twp states has been on the rise recently because of Israeli concerns that Egypt isn't doing enough to stop Palestinian arms smuggling into Gaza. In a spat between the countries last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Egypt was doing a "terrible" job of securing the border.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.02.08, 15:05
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