( Newsvine ) Thousands of Gazans hoping to make a pilgrimage to Mecca got caught between rival Palestinian governments Saturday, with the West Bank administration announcing that those who registered for the trip with the Hamas rulers of Gaza will not be able to travel.
The pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, known as the hajj, is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for Muslims, and around four million make the trip annually. The hajj will take place in December this year.
The Islamic militant Hamas and its Fatah rival have accused each other of politicizing religion. Hamas seized Gaza by force in June, prompting Fatah's leader, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to set up a rival government in the West Bank.
Saudi Arabia assigns a quota for the number of pilgrims that can attend from each country. Gaza's quota is around 2,100 and so far, about 11,000 Gazans have registered. Pilgrims are chosen randomly from registration lists.
The West Bank government said only it is authorized by Saudi Arabia to charge the $420 pilgrim registration fee, to be paid into a Gaza bank account. Those not chosen can get their money back or stay on the list for another year.
But after the June takeover, Hamas ordered pilgrims to pay their fees to a bank under its control.
Those pilgrims will not undertake the pilgrimage, said Ziad Rajoub , head of the Hajj Authority in the West Bank. Rajoub said the Palestinian Authority needs to use the pilgrims' fees to start booking hotels and transportation to Saudi Arabia.
"That's why we've asked our brothers in Hamas to return the money," Rajoub told a news conference.
Previously, the Hajj Authority had said it would accept Gaza pilgrims regardless of where they paid their cash. He said he would give Hamas two weeks to return the fees.
A senior Hamas official said the Gaza government would not back down, and it's unlikely most pilgrims can afford to pay the registration fee twice - most Gaza residents live on less than $2 a day.
Saudi officials were not available for comment.
Separately, hundreds of female Hamas supporters, some fully veiled, marched Saturday in Ramallah to demand the release of members of the Islamic militant group from Palestinian jails.
The protest was the first during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan held by Hamas loyalists in the West Bank. Previous protests in support of Hamas have ended in violence.
Palestinian police formed a chain to prevent the women, some covering their faces and others wearing headscarves and long coats, from gathering in Ramallah's main square, where protests traditionally converge.
Sabah Katalouni , 41, said her husband, a 50-year-old municipal official, was arrested Friday after security officials broke into their house and fired in the air. Katalouni said pro- Fatah officials beat her husband and her son. "They are oppressors," she said of Fatah .
The women said some 700 Hamas loyalists have been arrested in the West Bank since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June, and that some 150 still remain in jail without charge.
Palestinian human rights groups have said some Hamas loyalists were harshly beaten during arrests.
Ashraf Ajrami , a minister in the pro- Fatah West Bank government said the numbers of arrested were "exaggerated" but declined to provide specific numbers.
In Israel, officials said police found an explosives belt in a Tel Aviv apartment building early Saturday and said they averted a Hamas suicide bombing on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
Police acted on information gathered during a three-day army raid in the Ein Beit Ilmeh refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus . During the raid, troops arrrested four suspects, including the man planning to carry out the attack and the head of the Hamas military wing in the camp, Nihad Shkirat , officials said.