Sat Nov 29, 4:24 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – A senior official in the Islamist Hamas movement on Saturday slammed what he called a decision by Saudi Arabia not to grant visas to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who want to go on the hajj pilgrimage.
In remarks posted on Hamas's website, Atef Edwan said Riyadh had allowed thousands of people registered with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to have visas but not the 2,200 in Gaza who applied through Hamas.
"By ignoring those Gaza pilgrims registered with the Waqf (department of religious affairs) Saudi Arabia is making a political mistake that will have negative consequences on the Saudi regime and the whole region," Edwan said.
"There are forces inside Saudi Arabia who will profit from this episode," he added, in an apparent reference to opposition in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
"Several forces within Saudi Arabia are waiting to catch out the royal family, and this could be the drop of water that makes the vase overflow."
Hamas seized control of the impoverished Gaza Strip in June 2007 from forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose writ now holds sway only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Witnesses and would-be pilgrims told AFP earlier on Saturday that Hamas prevented scores of Muslims wanting to attend the annual pilgrimage to Mecca from reaching the Rafah border with Egypt.
Security forces set up checkpoints several kilometres (a mile or two) from the border between the city of Khan Yunis and the Rafah crossing to stop anyone passing through, they said.
Egypt had announced on Friday that the Rafah crossing would be open for three days from Saturday to allow the passage of some 3,000 Palestinian pilgrims with Saudi visas.
An Egyptian security official told AFP buses were waiting on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, but that no pilgrims had arrived.
Last week the Gaza administration run by Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister sacked by Abbas, said it would not allow would-be pilgrims who had obtained their visas through the West Bank authorities to join the hajj unless Hamas was also given a quota to allocate to the faithful.
