Some 3000 Israeli Moslems have applied so far to the Interior Ministry for permission to make the annual pilgrimage–the Hadj–to the Moslem holy places in Saudi Arabia this year. Although a small delegation of Israeli Moslems was permitted to go on the Hadj last year, this is the first time that the Saudis are allowing a large-scale pilgrimage of Arab citizens of Israel.
However, the Saudis–and the Jordanians, through whose territory the pilgrims will go–conditioned the permit so that the pilgrims will not be handled on either way by Israeli officials. Originally, the Israelis wanted the Moslem religious judges in Israeli Moslem courts to hand over to the Supreme Moslem Council in East Jerusalem the lists of pilgrims.
But because the religious judges are actually Israeli state employees, the Saudis and the Jordanians insisted that the Supreme Moslem Council handle the applications exclusively. For that matter, the Council will serve as an unofficial representative of Saudi Arabia and Jordan in Jerusalem.
The pilgrims will have to go through two channels of applications. One, to receive the Israeli permit to leave, and the other, to receive the Arab permission to enter Saudi Arabia. The pilgrimage will begin Oct. 24.
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