Palestinian pilgrims on way to Gaza, fate unclear

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities took more than 1,000 Palestinian pilgrims from the Red Sea port of Nuweiba to el-Arish in north Sinai on Sunday as Egypt, Israel and Palestinian officials negotiated their return to Gaza.

The Egyptians tried to persuade them to spend the night in shelters at a sports complex in the Mediterranean town or at a youth hostel until a decision is reached on their return.

But an Egyptian security source, who asked not to be named, said most of the pilgrims refused to disembark and said they would stay on their buses until they go back to Gaza.

The pilgrims are the first large batch returning to the isolated Palestinian enclave after completing the annual haj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Israel insists they must all pass through Israeli security checks on the grounds that some of them might be carrying arms or money for the Islamist movement Hamas, which runs Gaza.

But some of the pilgrims left Gaza directly to Egypt through a border post outside Israeli control and they do not want to subject themselves to Israeli checks when they go back.

Egyptian officials have not said how they intend to handle the dispute but President Hosni Mubarak said on Sunday that he wanted to see a quiet negotiated solution.

"Those Palestinians are our brothers. We'll find them a solution, but let's do without loudmouthing. Negotiations won't work that way," he told a news conference in Cairo.

Most of the border posts around Gaza have been closed to most Palestinians most of the time since June, when Hamas defeated the rival Fatah group in the territory.

But the siege is embarrassing for the Egyptian government, which is seen as cooperating in an Israeli policy of making the people of Gaza suffer to make them turn against Hamas.

The case of the pilgrims gave rise to a heated debate in the Egyptian parliament on Sunday, with most members favoring their return directly to Gaza without Israeli checks.

But Moufid Shehab, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said Egypt was worried that Israel might use force to prevent the pilgrims going home though the Rafah crossing.

In north Sinai, security officials made a tour of inspection of the places where the pilgrims might have to stay if they have a long wait on the Egyptian side, security sources said.

About 1,000 more Palestinian pilgrims have arrived in Nuweiba and are completing their immigration and customs procedures, port officials said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Stephen Weeks)