Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations    

    GAZA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Hamas' security forces Saturday prevented Palestinian hajj-pilgrims, who bypassed the deposed Hamas government when applied to travel to Mecca, from reaching Rafah crossing point on the Egyptian border with Gaza, witnesses said.

    "They installed checkpoints on the ways leading to Rafah crossing and forced us to go back," said one of the witnesses who declined to give his name.

    Meanwhile, the Palestinian TV reported that Hamas police scuffled with the pilgrims who could arrive in Rafah crossing earlier, leaving 13 of them suffering from bruises. The report could not be confirmed since the journalists in Gaza were also prevented from getting to the crossing.

    Egypt announced that it will open Rafah crossing for three days, starting from Saturday, to allow the departure of the Palestinian pilgrims, but Hamas' interior ministry says the crossing is closed and "there was no information that it will open today."

    However, the witnesses said they were told to head for the crossing.

    Hamas says the pilgrims, who registered via President Mahmoud Abbas' government which rules the Wets Bank, will not be allowed to travel unless the pilgrims who registered via Hamas are given visas by Saudi Arabia.

    The standoff is the latest in a series of feud between Hamas, which routed pro-Abbas forces and took over Gaza last year, and its rival Fatah movement led by Abbas which controls the West Bank.

    Hamas doesn't recognize the Abbas government's bans of any contacts between the Gazans and the West Bank-based government, which widens the political split.

    The two Palestinian administrations have been competing to prove their legitimacy.

    Jamal Bawatna, religious affairs minister in the West Bank, said the Saudi Arabia had granted visas to all Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip who applied via his government.

    But in Gaza, Hamas has also sent passports of thousands of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to get visas for them. Until the moment, Saudi Arabia did not grant any visas to them.