Israel protests Egypt's opening of Gaza border for pilgrims

Dec 5, 2007, 20:20 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel Wednesday protested an Egyptian decision to temporarily open its border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and allow hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims through its side of the Rafah border crossing.

Israel filed a formal complaint to the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv and had its embassy in Egypt also submit a protest letter to the Egyptian authorities in Cairo, Israel Channel 10 television reported.

Israel fears that scores of high-ranking Palestinian militants will exploit the border opening to return to the Gaza Strip after undergoing military training in Iran and Lebanon, the channel said.

Egypt allowed some 700 Palestinians to cross into Egypt Monday so that they can travel to Saudi Arabia and attend the Muslim Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which starts December 18 this year.

The move apparently follows a deal between Egypt and the Hamas authorities in Gaza.

The 700 pilgrims received their visas for Saudi Arabia through the Hamas administration, which has run the Gaza Strip since June, when its forces routed those loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement, and took control of the enclave.

Egyptian security officials checked the name of every pilgrim against a list, before allowing them through, witnesses at the Rafah terminal said.

The terminal has been closed since the Hamas take-over. Under a November 2005 Israeli-Palestinian agreement, the terminal is to be controlled by officers belonging to Abbas' Presidential Guard, with European observers monitoring it. But since the Gaza take-over, the Europeans have stayed away, and Abbas has refused a Hamas offer to redeploy his presidential guards at the crossing, arguing that would imply recognition of the violent Hamas move.