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Hajj in exchange for power
By Amira Hass
Tags: Hajj, Palestinian Authority 

Click here for more articles by Amira Hass

GAZA - The Hamas government is preventing thousands of Muslims from leaving the Gaza Strip to go on the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca - a religious duty - on the Id al-Adha (feast of the sacrifice) holiday.

What a sensational headline, what a fascinating paradox. What Israel has never dared to do - certainly not to this extent - is being done by a Palestinian government for which Islam is the basis of its platform and provides personal guidance for each of its ministers.
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Why does the Ismail Haniyeh government need the headache of the images of security roadblocks on the main road in Gaza preventing would-be pilgrims from reaching the Rafah crossing, which Egypt has announced will be temporarily opened, and the reports, including exaggerated ones, about people beaten by Hamas security forces because they insisted on getting close to the crossing? Why did the government decide not to allow out some 3,000 Gazans registered for the pilgrimage with the Palestinian religious affairs ministry in Ramallah as long as Egypt and Saudi Arabia don't allow an additional 3,000 Gazans who registered with the religious affairs ministry in Gaza to go on hajj?

This headache is the best proof of the determination of the Hamas government in Gaza to curb any attack on its legitimacy and authority, and any effort to disrupt its plans to bring order to the Strip. It is defying not just the Ramallah government, but also Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

As it does every year, Saudi Arabia has set quotas for how many pilgrims to Mecca each country (or in this case, the West Bank and Gaza) can send for Id al-Adha, which takes place on December 8 this year. The quota for the West Bank and Gaza is 8,000 pilgrims - 5,000 from the West Bank and 3,000 from Gaza. Until this year the registration process (and the lottery for the many registrants) took place separately in each of the two areas: West Bank religious affairs (Waqf) officials registered and conducted the lottery for Palestinians in the West Bank, and Gaza Waqf officials did the same for Palestinians in the Strip. But this summer, the Ramallah Waqf Minister Sheikh Jamal Mohammed Bawatneh struck an agreement with Saudi Arabia that visas would be granted only to those who registered through the ministry in Ramallah. That, of course, is a clear political statement accepting the Ramallah government as legitimate, in contrast to the other government, the deviant one in Gaza.

And people did register. Few found ways to send their passports to Ramallah, and most registered at special travel agencies or simply called the Waqf in Ramallah directly, sent in their details and were assured that permits to Saudi Arabia were awaiting them in the Egyptian city of El Arish. These registrants include Palestinian members of Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

But the Gaza government said the registration must be carried out in an orderly manner, and only through the Waqf in Gaza. Its police force confiscated the lists of people who had registered in offices that worked with Ramallah, and detained their owners for questioning. Some warned that anyone coordinating the hajj through Ramallah would be brought to trial.

About 20,000 Gazans registered with the Gaza Waqf, official sources said. Of those, 3,000 were chosen by lottery to comply with the quota. They have already received the vaccinations necessary for the trip, but do not have visas for Saudi Arabia. The 3,000 Gazans who registered in Ramallah have received the visas, but not the vaccinations. The authorities in Gaza have announced that the vaccinations, which are given in government clinics, will not be given to the "Ramallah pilgrims" if the ones registered in Gaza do not receive visas.

West Bank residents who registered for the hajj are already in Saudi Arabia, while 6,000 Gazan registrants are biting their fingernails between rumors, reports, statements and public prayer services, as hope mingles with disappointment. In the meantime, Egypt has announced that the Rafah crossing will be open for the hajj. The authorities in Gaza, which are responsible for the Palestinian side of the crossing, say the opening was not coordinated with Gaza border officials or border police. The Egyptian announcement was also seen as siding with Ramallah, perhaps as an indirect way of expressing discontent over Hamas' last-minute cessation of conciliation talks in Cairo.

Calling on Gazans to register via Ramallah is part of an ongoing policy of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to crush governing norms in Gaza, in the hope this will bring about a collapse of the Hamas government. The hajj registration issue is one of several similar moves, including the extended enforced strike at government schools and hospitals in the Strip, which is purportedly based on professional union demands but was reportedly encouraged by the Palestinian Authority. The Hamas government has managed to employ new teachers to replace the striking ones and bring many hospital employees back to work.

The hajj issue is similar. The Hamas government is convinced that a concession here, even for the sake of allowing Gazans to fulfill a religious duty, will just encourage Ramallah to continue taking steps to disrupt order in Gaza. The Islamic ruling party is sacrificing one hajj for the good of the message that its government is the only legitimate address for the residents of the Gaza Strip to turn to.
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  1.   Pity The Poor Working Chap 09:22  |  Yosemite 03/12/08
  2.   Hey FOX, still wanna claim that Amira Hass.... 10:06  |  Swiss (Dino) 03/12/08
  3.   10:25  |  Erez Semaria 03/12/08
  5.   HOW many other refugees can afford to go on the Haj?? 10:58  |  PETER SM 03/12/08
  6.   They obviously expected to get through the Israeli "blockade" 11:34  |  PETER SM 03/12/08
  7.   Hey FOX, still wanna claim that Amira Hass is not critical.... 11:44  |  Swiss (Dino) 03/12/08
  8.   HEY Swiss still wanna claim blockade? 12:03  |  PETER SM 03/12/08
  9.   # 8 PETER SM, I tought I told you before.... 12:17  |  Swiss (Dino) 03/12/08
  10.   First criticism of Hamas after Hass was deported from Gaza 12:26  |  AA 03/12/08
  11.   It`s terrible Gazans are caught in the middle of Israel`s schemes 12:30  |  Dutch 03/12/08
  12.   #2, PETER SM. Honestly, this is overboard even for you. 13:00  |  zmogus 03/12/08
  13.   A confused, confusing article. 13:01  |  S 03/12/08
  14.   Hey Amira, why not write about lack of press freeedom in Gaza? 13:15  |  Joe Sittizen 03/12/08
  15.   LONG LIVE, DINO 13:21  |  indrajaya 03/12/08
  16.   A confused; confusing article. (2nd try) 14:00  |  S 03/12/08
  17.   PA Queen Amira explains PA issues 14:34  |  Rafi 03/12/08
  18.   Revenge of the Journali 14:36  |  Mark Lincoln 03/12/08
  19.   big deal criticism, Dino, except that Amira isn`t critcising - 14:54  |  ivo 03/12/08
  20.   Are they starving or are they going on their hols? 14:57  |  Hannah 03/12/08
  21.   So Saudi Arabia and Egypt like Fatah 15:17  |  lady from USA 03/12/08
  22.   Dutch # 9 Israel Had Nothing To Do With It 15:28  |  Jeff Northridge 03/12/08
  23.   I asked some Muslim friends 16:09  |  * BEN JABO 03/12/08
  24.   What images? 16:54  |  Mark Lincoln 03/12/08
  25.   Ben Jabo - it depends 17:05  |  Mark Lincoln 03/12/08
  26.   WOW!!! Gazans can afford this trip? 17:58  |  Lynn 03/12/08
  27.   How Ironic, Tony! 18:13  |  Zach 03/12/08
  28.  
  27.   How Ironic, Tony! 03/12/08
  29.   # 19 ivo 18:53  |  Swiss (Dino) 03/12/08
  30.   # 28, SWISS (DINO) 19:46  |  indrajaya 03/12/08
  31.   Politics is always about power. 19:57  |  ARTH 03/12/08
  32.   Dino #29: that`s you, but it`s not Amira Hass - 20:18  |  ivo 03/12/08
  33.   ZMOGUS Either they had reason to expect to get through for Haj 22:53  |  PETER SM 03/12/08
  34.   `Dutch from MA USA`: Tell us whetther BAN of HAMAS is IMMORAL? 22:37  |  Vittorio 03/12/08
  35.   22 Jeff, I wasn`t born yesterday or the day before that... 23:15  |  Dutch 03/12/08
  36.   Lynn #26 Still more deserving of help 23:16  |  Roo 03/12/08
  37.   #21 lady from USA....saudis are peeved over the attacks 23:17  |  Lynn 03/12/08
  38.   #25 Mark Lincoln.....they are NOT making a point 23:21  |  Lynn 03/12/08
  39.   If Hamas doesn`t want her,why would Israel,send her back 23:40  |  SFreedaLiebermanfan 03/12/08
  40.   Lynn #36 you are a broken record 23:44  |  Roo 03/12/08
  41.   Lynn #37 so wants the Gazans 23:47  |  Roo 03/12/08
  42.   DORIS Were you born when Arabs chose war&terror instead of peace 00:16  |  PETER SM 04/12/08
  43.   Petersm and imaginary blockades 01:02  |  truth 04/12/08
  44.   TRUTH In a blockade not getting through Especially blatant tunnel 01:21  |  PETER SM 04/12/08
  45.   Lynn 01:29  |  Mark Lincoln 04/12/08
  46.   I LOVE AMIRA, SISTER, NOW I`M`VE RELIEVED MYSELF 01:55  |  indrajaya 04/12/08
  47.   I realize you are disappointed Peter SM 02:06  |  Mark Lincoln 04/12/08
  48.   M.Lincoln Have the honesty if not the courtesy not to put words 02:45  |  PETER SM 04/12/08
  49.   Hajj - Gazans think the son was Ishmael and 03:16  |  17 04/12/08
  50.   Lost in the shuffle 03:19  |  peter 04/12/08
  51.   #25 Lincoln - you should have noted 04:33  |  * BEN JABO 04/12/08
  52.   Its a Shame 07:09  |  mich 04/12/08
  53.   stop this nonsense Not an apartheid state 09:14  |  Jannie 04/12/08
  54.   #33, PETER SM. Glad to enlighten you on the blockade. 14:28  |  zmogus 04/12/08
  55.   B` JABO Lynn.Some in Warsaw ghetto had more savings than others 19:56  |  zmogus 04/12/08
  56.   #55 zmogus - don`t assume so much 03:41  |  * BEN JABO 05/12/08
  57.   #55-2 ZMOGUS - I don`t want to strain your brain 03:55  |  * BEN JABO 05/12/08
  58.   BEN JABO. I would like you to strain yours for once. 11:57  |  zmogus 05/12/08
  59.   #58 2ND TRY ZMOGUS 01:00  |  * BEN JABO 06/12/08
  60.   #59, BEN JABO. There must be some organic reason for you to... 15:33  |  zmogus 08/12/08
  61.   #60 ZMOGUS - Gad, you`re dense 16:08  |  * BEN JABO 09/12/08
  62.   IQ test for BEN JABO: 13:26  |  zmogus 10/12/08
 Read & React
Livni: Israel should strike Hamas again to halt arms smuggling
Responses: 44
Amir Oren: 'Decisive' Gaza offensive merely rehearsal for next crisis versus Iran
Responses: 8
Netanyahu: Likud-led government wouldn't build new settlements
Responses: 36
Akiva Eldar: Saudi plan offers Israel united front with Arab states against Iran
Responses: 10


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