Hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims stranded at Aqaba

Dec 28, 2007, 16:02 GMT

Amman - Over 2,200 Palestinian pilgrims, mostly affiliated with the radical Hamas group, were Friday stranded at Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba after Egyptian authorities insisted they should pass through an Israeli-controlled crossing point in order to reach the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Jordanian sources said.

The pilgrims had arrived at Aqaba over the past few days after performing the Haj rituals in Mecca.

However, the Egyptian authorities refused to allow them to travel to Nuwaibe port on their way back home before pledging to return through the Karm Abu Salem crossing point, which is controlled by Israel, Palestinian Legislative Council Khamis Najjar member said.

'In fact we are exposed to a humanitarian tragedy, since 61 per cent of the pilgrims are women and 60 per cent are over the age of 60 and do suffer fatigue as a result of the Haj journey,' said Najjar, 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 travelled,' he said.

However, Palestinian Planning Minister Samir Abdullah advised the pilgrims to return to the Gaza Strip via any other crossing point, saying it was impossible to reopen the Rafah border post, which was closed down since Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June.

'The European observers 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 Qatar- based al Jazeera television.

Jordanian authorities were extending relief aid to the Palestinian pilgrims pending a solution to the problem, an official said.