1700 Palestinian Pilgrims Refuse to Return to Gaza via Israeli-controlled Crossings, Fear Kidnap

More than 1700 Palestinian pilgrims returning from Mecca are waiting on a ship outside the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba after refusing to agree to return to the Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

The Gazan pilgrims have been at sea for more than 30 hours now, having forced the crew of the ship not to return to Jordan.

The pilgrims are asking to return to the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian-Palestinian controlled Rafah crossing. Members of Hamas and other political factions will be seized on sight if they attempt to pass through an Israeli controlled checkpoint.

Khamis Najjar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) representing Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, was outraged at the impasse: "Does the world want to extradite us to Israel, to detain dozens of us?"
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