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Ref: 07/2005

Date: 04 January 2005

Time: 13:00 GMT

In Violation of the Right to Freely Practice Religion, Israeli  Authorities Prevent Pilgrims from Traveling to Saudi Arabia to Attend the Hajj and impose Severe Travel Conditions on Traveling Pilgrims

 In the latest example of the policy of collective punishment on the Palestinian civilian population, Israeli authorities have prevented at least 170 pilgrims from the Gaza Strip from traveling to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, in violation of their right to freely practice their religion.  Israeli authorities claimed that this decision was taken for security reasons.  They have also prevented dozens of pilgrims from traveling because of what Israeli authorities claim is a lack of necessary security coordination, despite the fact that the names of these pilgrims were included in the lists of those who are allowed to travel, delivered to the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments.  The first group of pilgrims from the Gaza Strip included 470 pilgrims who traveled on the 1^st of January 2005.  These pilgrims were forced to gather near al-Azhar University in Gaza City and traveled first to Erez crossing in the north, where they were checked and then transported to Rafah Terminal on the Egyptian border in the south, to travel by air from the al-‘Areesh Airport in Egypt to Saudi Arabia. 

 According to information available to PCHR, Israeli authorities provided the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs with a list of at least 170 pilgrims from the Gaza Strip, claiming that they are prohibited from traveling to Saudi Arabia.  Astonishingly, the list included names of dozens of women and elderly people.  Everyday, Israeli authorities provide the Palestinian civil liaison with new names of pilgrims who are prohibited from traveling to Saudi Arabia.  In some of these cases, the prohibition includes one of the spouses, which forces the other spouse to abstain from traveling. 

 Israeli authorities have imposed severe restrictions on those who are allowed to travel through Erez Crossing, including:

1.      800 Pilgrims from various areas of the Gaza Strip have to gather near the garden of al-Azhar University in Gaza City starting from 21:00. 

2.      At 01:00, convoys of pilgrims head to a gathering point near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. 

3.      At 07:00, the pilgrims are allowed to travel to Erez crossing, where they are subject to strict checking. 

4.      Then, they are transported in convoys accompanied by Israeli military vehicles to Rafah Terminal.

5.      Pilgrims from the southern and central Gaza Strip face additional difficulties as they need coordination for the passage through Abu Houli and al-Matahen checkpoints, north of Khan Yunis, and an Israeli military checkpoint to the west “Nitzarim” settlement, south of Gaza City, as checkpoints are opened only from 05:00 to 20:00 everyday. 

6.      Pilgrims from the southern Gaza Strip have to gather at 18:00 near Khan Yunis Governorate to be transported to Gaza City four hours later.  The suffering increases when a number of pilgrims are prohibited from traveling. 

 Hundreds of pilgrims have become sick due to the severe conditions of travel.  The journey of pilgrims until their arrival to al-‘Areesh Airport in Egypt takes nearly 36 hours, even through the distance between Erez crossing to the airport takes a maximum of one hour and a half in normal times. 

 The first group of pilgrims from the Gaza Strip, which included 815 pilgrims, traveled through Erez crossing on Saturday morning, 2 January 2005.  According to the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Ministry of Civil Affairs, Israeli authorities prevented 24 of these pilgrims from traveling claiming that they did not have all necessary documents.  According to the same sources, approximately 10% of the number pilgrims traveling each night are prevented from traveling to Erez crossing as Israeli authorities send new lists of pilgrims who are not allowed to travel, two hours before they leave for Erez. 

 This denial of access to the Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia represents a clear violation of the right to freedom of religion, as enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as numerous other provisions of international human rights and humanitarian law.

 PCHR calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to allow Palestinians to practice their right to free worship, which is a basic human right.  PCHR calls also upon the United Nations bodies to call on the Israeli authorities to respect their legal obligations towards the Palestinian people, especially allowing pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia to attend the Hajj.  PCHR calls also upon intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies to pressure IOA to reopen Rafah Terminal on the Egyptian border, since it is the only outlet for the Gaza Strip population to the outside world.   

Public Document

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PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: [email protected], Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org