Israel Matzav

Egyptian minister calls for Muslim pilgrims to flood Jerusalem

In an interview with the London-based pan-Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awswat, Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq has called on Muslims to abandon their traditional position of refusing to visit Jerusalem until it is 'liberated' from the Jews, and instead to flood the city with Muslim pilgrims as a counterbalance to Israeli efforts to make the city more Jewish.

“I say to those who insist on not visiting [Jerusalem] before its liberation: My worst fear is that you will have nothing to visit after Israel realizes its plans in Jerusalem and elsewhere,” Zaqzouq was quoted as saying.

Zaqzouq said his tactic of urging a worldwide convergence on Jerusalem could be used to expose any subsequent Israeli hypocrisy, should the government refuse to grant them entry permits. He said Muslims could then turn to the international community claiming religious discrimination.

“This would produce powerful leverage, in lieu of the current negative Islamic boycott,” he said. “We are wrong to define Jerusalem as a Palestinian issue. Rather, it is a purely Islamic issue concerning 1.5 billion Muslims.”

According to data issued by the Ministry of Tourism, only 1,870 Egyptians entered Israel in the first six months of this year. In comparison, about 77,000 Israeli traveled to Egypt during the same period.

“There are two sources of pressure preventing Egyptians from traveling to Israel,” said Sobhy Essaila, a researcher at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies. “The first is social and peer pressure placed on any individual wishing to travel to Israel. The second is the notion that the Egyptian security keeps a record of anyone traveling there.”

Essaila denied that the Egyptian security apparatus outwardly pressured Egyptians not to travel to Israel, but the simple fact that they were being monitored put people off any visit. He added that traveling to Israel was regarded as a form of normalization, which was widely rejected by the average Egyptian.

The mental barrier blocking many Egyptians from visiting Israel was contrary to the principles of the 1978 peace treaty. The treaty called for a “termination of economic boycotts and barriers to the free movement of goods and people.”

Zvi Mazel, a former Ambassador to Egypt, said that the opinion voiced by Zaqzouq represented an official policy by the Egyptian government.

“The fact that Zaqzouq continues these statements despite pressure from pro-boycott elements within Egypt proves that he represents government sentiment,” Mazel said. “The government feels it went too far with its boycott policy and is now trying to backtrack a little.”

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:42 PM