{"id":40354,"date":"2019-08-03T22:33:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T22:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40354"},"modified":"2019-08-03T22:33:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T22:33:07","slug":"lebanese-palestinian-and-syrian-hajj-pilgrims-face-rising-costs-and-political-tension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40354","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian Hajj pilgrims face rising costs and political tension\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT: Every Hajj season, Rafic Hariri International Airport is the only corridor for Lebanese, Palestinian refugees in the country and Syrians who want to perform pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\nThose who were issued their Hajj visas were informed three months ago. According to a diplomatic source in the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Lebanon, \u201cthe Lebanese quota is 4,000 pilgrims who receive their Hajj visa at no cost, courtesy visas are allocated to politicians who give their supporters\u2019 names \u2014 and also receive the visa at no cost \u2014 and the embassy also gives visas to humanitarian cases such as those given last year to the parents of soldiers killed while combating terrorist organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe source added that there had been \u201cattempts to control politicians\u2019 applications in order to reduce any exploitation operations, which has contributed to limiting corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThere are 37 Hajj campaigns in Lebanon that take care of pilgrims\u2019 matters. Ibrahim Itani, head of the Hajj Affairs Committee, said that \u201cthe number of Lebanese and Palestinian pilgrims is stable, reaching around 20,000, and the Syrian Hajj Committee is responsible for Syrian pilgrims who are not included in the Lebanese quota.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nItani added: \u201cThis year, the authorities concerned with pilgrimage in the Kingdom increased the age of accepted pilgrims to people born in 1963 but it was restricted to those born in 1947 earlier. Priority is given to older people and those performing Hajj for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nPilgrims are accompanied by \u201caround 40 doctors who form the committee\u2019s medical board.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nItani added that: \u201cLebanese and Palestinian pilgrims are told not to riot. They are also forbidden from carrying any political leaflets or cash exceeding SR40,000 ($10,000). Pilgrims from Lebanon have always committed to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe number of Lebanese and Palestinian pilgrims is stable, reaching around 20,000, and the Syrian Hajj Committee is responsible for Syrian pilgrims who are not included in the Lebanese quota.<\/p>\n

\nIbrahim Itani, head of Hajj Affairs Committee in Lebanon<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nBut to what extent has the economic decline in Lebanon affected the people\u2019s abilities to perform Hajj this year? Ahmed Jamal, one of the owners of Saudi-Lebanese company for Hajj and Umrah said: \u201cThere is a decline in application numbers. Last year, they were 10,000, but this year, it has declined to 6,500. Purchasing power has also dropped; people are no longer booking five-star hotels. The Hajj cost is $2,900 minimum per person and can reach $4,000.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHe added: \u201c1,650 Palestinian refugees applied this year to perform Hajj, whereas their number ranged from 1,700 to 1,800 last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nCampaign manager for the Fotowa lil Hajj wal Umrah, Abdulrahman El-Taweel said: \u201cThe purchasing power of Lebanese and Palestinians has declined in relation to service requests for Hajj.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSome campaigns pay $400 per pilgrim due to them taking busy rooms far from Makkah and Madinah. Since we are a non-profit organization, the cost does not exceed $1,300.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHassanein El-Khalil, a managers for the El Khalil for Hajj campaign, is frustrated by the decline in economic capability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nHe said: \u201cThis year, 275 applied for our campaign for a Hajj visa whereas their number reached 340 last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe said: \u201cThe Kingdom\u2019s allocation of a quota for pilgrims in every country is great. Without it, millions could not have visited the Kingdom for Hajj.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere are two types of people performing Hajj: One that wants a decent and clean sleeping space with no interest in quality, and another that looks for five-star services, the latter\u2019s number has declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nEl-Khalil added that \u201cmost people wishing to perform Hajj are elderly who want to pray. We are responsible for everyone under our sponsorship, even if one of the pilgrims asks to stay in Makkah for longer, we are responsible for them before the Saudi authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nProcedures for Syrian pilgrims differ from those from Lebanon and Palestine.<\/p>\n

\nAbdulrahman Nahlawi, head of the information section in the Syrian Hajj Committee in Turkey, told Arab News: \u201cThe office in Beirut was established six years ago, and the Hajj file was taken from the regime in Syria in 2012 and became under the guardianship of the Syrian Hajj Committee affiliated with the Syrian Coalition in 2013. We are responsible for all Hajj operations, and no Syrian pilgrim can go to the Kingdom without going through us, regardless of their political and ethnic orientations.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Syrian quota has been stable for six years, and the number of pilgrims this year is 22,500. They received their visas from four Saudi embassies in Cairo, Amman, Beirut and Istanbul. Iraqi Kurdistan is new this year but their applications are low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn order to register, applicants must have a Syrian passport or valid residence in their country. Syrian refugees in Lebanon cannot travel by Lebanese laws that do not allow them to return in case they decide to leave.<\/p>\n

\nNahlawi said: \u201cSyrians who would like to perform Hajj from Syria go to Beirut through legitimate border crossings between the two countries, or go via Turkey if they are in the north of the country.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe number of people living in Damascus or under the regime\u2019s control who would like to perform Hajj is small. They fear security investigations upon their return.This is happened two years ago when pilgrims were referred to the Palestinian security branch, and underwent investigations to see if they belonged to the opposition or made contact with it. Last year, no one was investigated and pilgrims returned peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nNahlawi added: \u201cThe number of people who have applied this year has reached 34,000, and the Hajj visa gives priority to the elderly with a 64 percent proportion allocated to them.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe number of men and women who would like to perform Hajj is close, and there is no decline in applicants\u2019 financial capabilities. We are working on controlling the campaigns\u2019 gains so they do not overcharge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: Every Hajj season, Rafic Hariri International Airport is the only corridor for Lebanese, Palestinian refugees in the country and Syrians who want to perform pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Those who were issued their Hajj visas were informed three months ago. According to a diplomatic source in the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Lebanon, \u201cthe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}