Ebrahim Moosa – Radio Islam | 04 Muharram 1438/05 October 2016

A homecoming from Hajj is a wonder to behold. For successive years, I relished in witnessing -first hand – the boundless joy at the OR Tambo International Airport as entire families waited in anticipation to reunite with their loved ones who had been on Hajj. Young kids came along kitted in their finest outfits, the elderly clasped colourful bouquets of flowers, and homecoming banners and placards bobbed up and down each time the huge arrivals’ sliding doors opened.

When the long lost loved one eventually appeared after a painstaking wait, the floodgates of emotion would be unleashed. Children darted across the hall to fall into their parents’ outstretched arms. Many Hujaaj would toss their little bundles of joy in the air. There were overpowering embraces, waterfalls of tears, and, ultimately, thankful smiles.

Scenes like these, no doubt, are the staple of airports and other ports of entry across the world each year in the days and weeks that follow the Hajj. In many countries, they come coupled with rich traditions, like the donning of unique garments, and thanksgiving feasts. The Hajee henceforth, is also anointed with a special status in society.

Knowing the potential of such homecomings as harbingers of joy, it does anguish one to hear of the instances where such reunions are snuffed out of their charm.

Reports this year finger both the Apartheid regime of Israel and the coup clan of Egypt as conspirators in this heartless crime.

Instead of rolling out the carpet for pilgrims who had returned from a pilgrimage of peace, Egyptian authorities in September detained seven Palestinian pilgrims upon their return from Saudi Arabia.

The Hujaaj were taken into custody at the Cairo airport and questioned on alleged links to terrorism in North Sinai, a source told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

A source with the Palestinian embassy in Cairo confirmed that the seven pilgrims from the Gaza Strip were held by Egyptian authorities upon return from the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage.

The source, however, denied that the seven were charged with terrorism.

“The issue is now with the Egyptian authorities,” he said.

Days prior, Israeli occupation police arrested Arab Israeli Dr Samah Al-Rifi at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv as she was returning home from Hajj.

Arab48.com reported that no reason was given for Al-Rifi’s arrest, but officials in Jaffa, which she is from, said they are exerting efforts to find out the reason for her arrest.

The news outlet cited sources inside Israel saying that Al-Rifi was investigated by the Israeli security services Shin Bet and was prevented from contacted her lawyer.

Haj Abu-Ghazi Ashqar, an Arab official in Jaffa, said: “This detention is a violation of all redlines. Away from all justifications, we will do our best to release her. How can a wife and a mother be arrested and her little children prevented from seeing her after a long journey?”

“This is an inhumane act and we will deal with this issue as an act that contradicts all conventions and laws. We will move believing that she has to be released. The Israeli establishment has to know that [Arabs] in Jaffa are not dead and it has to immediately release her.”

(With reporting from Anadolu Agency and Middle East Monitor)