The ministry said that Custodian of the Two Holy King Abdullah invited 2,000 Palestinians to attend the Haj, as his guests, with transportation and housing costs covered by the king. It added that the invitees will be selected equally from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

However, people from Hebron said that Al-Habbash dropped the names of 204 pilgrims from Hebron, East Jerusalem, the 1948 Arab areas, and from Jordan.

They added that their names were dropped after they were instructed to prepare themselves to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage.

On Friday, the East Jerusalem's pilgrims protested Al-Habbash’s measure in front of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s Office in Ramallah.

The Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Issa Qaraqi' said that his ministry was informed in the last hour of preparations that Al-Habbash dropped the 204 names for Gaza Strip.

He added that the Al-Habbash's decision was against the understandings between the two ministries.

The pilgrims from Hebron and East Jerusalem called on President Mahmoud Abbas to intervene to allow them to make the Haj pilgrimage since most of them are "disabled, blind or infected with cancer."