Palestinians’ Rift Prevents Gazans From Traveling to Mecca

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GAZA — For the first time since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, no Palestinians from Gaza are making the sacred annual pilgrimage to Mecca this year because of a power struggle over which Palestinian government is legitimate.

Saudi Arabia, which runs the pilgrimage, known as the hajj, sought to bolster the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank, run by President Mahmoud Abbas and backed by the West and Israel, by asking it to compose the list of pilgrims, 4,000 from the West Bank and 2,200 from Gaza. Egypt added its support by opening its border with Gaza to allow the pilgrims out.

The West Bank residents left two weeks ago but Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs Gaza, insisted on submitting its own list of eligible Gazans. When the Saudis said they would not grant any of them visas, Hamas set up eight checkpoints along the route to the Egyptian border and barred passage to those on the other list.

Witnesses said the police used sticks to beat those who did not turn back. Five tourism company owners who dealt with the West Bank officials for the hajj were jailed by Hamas security men, according to Maher Amin, owner of another such company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/middleeast/04mideast.html?th&emc=th