AMMAN, 29 December 2007 — More than 2,200 Palestinian pilgrims, mostly affiliated with the Hamas group, were yesterday stranded at Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba after the Egyptian authorities insisted that they pass through an Israeli-controlled crossing point to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Jordanian source said.
The pilgrims arrived at Aqaba over the past few days after performing the Haj rituals in Makkah.
However, the Egyptian authorities refused to allow them to travel to the Nuwaibe port on their way back home before pledging to return through the Karm Abu Salem crossing point, which is controlled by Israel, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Khamis Najjar told the media.
“In fact, we are exposed to a humanitarian tragedy, since 61 percent of the pilgrims are women and 60 percent are over the age of 60 and do suffer fatigue as a result of the Haj journey,” said Najjar, who is one of the stranded pilgrims.
He pointed out that the Palestinian pilgrims refused to return home through the Karm Abu Salem crossing point “because many of them could be arrested by the Israelis.”
“We insist on returning home through the Rafah crossing point, from where we traveled,” he said.
However, Palestinian Planning Minister Samir Abdullah advised the pilgrims to return to the Gaza Strip through any other crossing point, saying it was impossible to re-open the Rafah border post, which was closed down since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June
“The European observes who controlled the Rafah border post quit the area after the Hamas move and cannot return to the site” with the continued Hamas control of the territory, Abdullah told the Qatar-based Aljazeera television.
The Jordanian authorities were extending relief aid to the Palestinian pilgrims pending a solution of the problem, an official said.
