Egyptian opposition group seeks to ban Israeli pilgrims

Jan 1, 2009, 12:26 GMT

Cairo - In reaction to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, a coalition of Egyptian political opposition parties are seeking to ban an Israeli delegation of up to 300 people from visiting a Jewish shrine, local media reported Thursday.

The shrine - what is believed to be the tomb of a Moroccan rabbi in a village west of the coastal city of Alexandria - is visited yearly by religious Israeli pilgrims who arrive in tightly secured convoys.

According to the daily al-Masry al-Youm, a movement called 'You Will Not Move Over My Land' was established by members of several opposition parties such as the leftist al-Tagamu party and the banned Muslim Brotherhood to stop the Israeli visitors.

The move comes as around 400 people have been killed and more than 1,800 injured so far in Israeli airstrikes targeting the radical Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip for the sixth day in a row.

The report cited Gamal Mounib, head of the movement, as saying he would hold the Egyptian government responsible if the pilgrims visited the shrine this year.

Locals have been demonstrating in front of the village's mosque against the Gaza airstrikes, burning Israeli flags and calling for a ban against Israelis visiting the shrine.

Formerly home to thousands of Jews before the establishment of Israel in 1948, former Egyptian president Jamal Abdel Nasser expelled most Egyptian Jews in the early years of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Only about 60 Jews currently live in Egypt.