Cairo - Official numbers issued by the Ministry of Hajj in Saudi Arabia revealed the false Qatari claims of the politicization of hajj by Saudi Arabia. The number of Qatari pilgrims has reached 1,564, an increase of 354 from the previous year according to the Emir of Mecca and advisor to King Salman, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, in a press conference on Wednesday. Al-Faisal's statement stressed on the complete separation between the ongoing political dispute between the four Arab countries, which includes Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the religious rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. In response, Qatari media launched a major propaganda campaign aimed at emphasizing that Saudi Arabia is trying to politicize the hajj for Qatari pilgrims in light of the dispute between Qatar and the four Arab countries; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Qatar's Ministry of Awqaf has closed registration for hajj this year in an effort to reduce the number of Qatari pilgrims and accused Saudi Arabia of falsely politicizing the hajj, according to Al-Arabiya news channel. However, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly declared its keenness to receive Qatari pilgrims like every year in order to thwart Doha's attempt to politicize the case. Bashir Abdul Fattah, expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Political Studies, said that Qatar was claiming that the Qatari blockade by the four countries has prevented people from performing the hajj. Yahya Kadwani, deputy of the National Defense and Security Committee of the Parliament, stressed that Qatar had failed in promoting claims of politicizing hajj, after the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman announced the transportation of Qatari pilgrims at his own expense to deny Qatari allegations that Saudi Arabia is politicizing the hajj and distorting Saudi Arabia's image. On June 23, 2017, the four Arab states requested 13 demands from Qatar, which were presented by Kuwait, the mediator in the crisis. The demands included that Qatar shut down Al-Jazeera TV network, cut diplomatic ties with Iran, stop financing and supporting terror groups, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and end Turkey's military presence in Doha.
