Egyptians demonstrate demanding passage for Palestinian pilgrims seeking to travel to Mecca. The situation at the Rafah crossing, though, remains confused, with Hamas preventing pilgrims from entering Egypt, reports Reem Leila More than 1,000 students from Cairo, Ain Shams, Al-Azhar and Helwan universities protested last week against the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and called on the government and the international community to intervene. The demonstrations on 26 November, which continued into Monday, culminated in a statement demanding the full opening of Rafah crossing for Palestinian pilgrims who have been prevented from going to Mecca for hajj because Hamas has refused to allow them to cross the border since Egypt opened the crossing on Saturday. Egypt occasionally opens the crossing to allow Palestinians, usually seeking medical treatment, students or pilgrims, to enter and leave the impoverished coastal strip. "There is a consensus among the different national parties that it is our responsibility to lift this siege on Gaza. The government has barred several attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood [MB] and opposition activists to send medical supplies through Rafah," said MB MP Hamdi Hussein. Palestinian pilgrims who registered with the Hamas-run Ministry of Religious Affairs in Gaza have not been granted visas by Saudi Arabia. "We urge the Saudi king to issue visas so that all pilgrims in Gaza can go on hajj. Why should a Palestinian who belongs to a certain faction be allowed to leave and others not? We are against such political discrimination manifesting itself in religious matters," said Hussein. Hamas set up a checkpoint 300 metres from the Rafah gate following Egypt's opening of the crossing on Saturday, reportedly preventing people from passing into Egypt. There were sporadic clashes and 13 people were injured. Egypt agreed to open the crossing for three days. While Hamas spokesman Taher El-Nunu denied that the movement had prevented people from crossing the border, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki called Hamas's actions a "disgrace". He confirmed that Rafah had been open since 29 November. "Extending the opening of the crossing for a few more days is a possibility. Egyptian officials are trying to solve the problem of the Palestinian pilgrims with the Saudi authorities." The reason behind Hamas's refusal to allow the pilgrims passage centres on disputes over how Saudi visas were allocated in the territories. Saudi Arabia issued visas for pilgrims who applied through the Palestinian Authority but did not accept the list submitted by Hamas. In Gaza 1,200 pilgrims received visas after having applied through Fatah in the West Bank while some 2,200 Gazans who applied for visas through Hamas had their applications rejected. Hamas is appealing to Saudi Arabia to reverse the decision, and some of the movement's leaders have threatened to prevent anyone leaving Gaza for the pilgrimage to Mecca if its own members cannot travel. Initially Hamas claimed that the crossing had not been opened by Egypt, though there were 30 buses on the Egyptian side of the gate waiting to ferry pilgrims on. And by Monday night 75 Palestinians who had been seeking treatment in Egypt returned to Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Many demonstrators in Cairo urged Hamas to end the stand-off between Gaza and the West Bank and to enter into a serious national dialogue involving all Palestinian factions. George Ishaq, a leading member of Kifaya, said "Palestinians should solve their own differences before expecting anything from anyone". He accused Hamas of committing a "crime" against the pilgrimage. "Saudi Arabia only recognises the Palestinian Authority which represents Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank," he said. On 24 November an even larger crowd, estimated at 6,000 students, gathered at Al-Azhar campus to demand solidarity with Gaza and the crossing to be opened. In cooperation with trade unions and political parties, the MB organised 46 sit-ins and a conference on 28 November. Protests were led by MB MPs, with some of the largest taking place in Kafr Al-Sheikh and Qena governorates. Participants condemned the "suspicious silence" of Arab leaders. A protest was also staged in front of the Egyptian Embassy in London on Saturday. Participants in the demonstration, organised by the Islamic Human Right Commission, chanting slogans that included "Stop Starving the Palestinians, Stop the Holocaust in Gaza", called on Israel to end the siege and the Egyptian government to re-open the Rafah crossing. The two-hour demonstration preceded the delivery of a letter to the embassy, signed by 100 human rights activists, parliamentarians, scholars, researchers and students, urging the immediate opening of the Rafah crossing to allow the passage of pilgrims, food and medical aid. Earlier this month Egypt opened its border with Gaza to allow thousands of students and Palestinians needing medical attention to leave the besieged Strip. Israel said on 24 November that it had allowed some supplies into Gaza amid mounting international concern over the humanitarian crisis facing the 1.5 million inhabitants who live sealed off from the outside world. In July thousands of Palestinians stormed the border in a bid to flee the impoverished territory which has been under crippling Israeli blockade since Hamas seized power in June 2007. In the ensuing clashes Egyptian security forces drove the crowd back from the border with water cannons as Palestinians hurled rocks before being dispersed by baton- wielding Hamas security men. In January and February, after Hamas destroyed parts of the border barrier, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded into Egypt in search of supplies denied them by the Israeli blockade.
