On Tuesday January 13, 2004, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) provided the Palestinian Civil Liaison Office with a list of names of 386 Palestinians who will not be entitled to travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, through Rafah Terminal.
On the same day, it was reported by Al Mezan’s fieldworker in Rafah that the IOF prevented 15 of the enlisted pilgrims from travel.
It should be mentioned that Israel has imposed similar restrictions on pilgrims’ travel every year since the beginning the current Intifada.
Hundreds of pilgrims have been prevented from travel during the past three years under ambiguous security pretexts.
The decisions to prevent certain pilgrims from travel appear to be random and abusive in their nature, as information gathered by Al Mezan shows that certain pilgrims on this list were entitled to travel shortly before the beginning of the pilgrimage season.
Accordingly, this prohibition to travel seems to be used as measures of collective punishment.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the flagrant violations of every person’s right to ‘leave any country, including his own’, Article 12(2) in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Additionally, these prohibitions violate Article 18 of the same Covenant, which establishes the freedom for every persons to ‘have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice and freedom… to manifest his religion or belief in worship…’.
These decisions also constitute breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
As such, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls upon the International Community to exert pressure on Israel to allow for free passage of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia during the pilgrimage season, which comes once every year.