MAKKAH: More than 7,000 men from government and national sectors are volunteering to serve pilgrims once they arrive at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah.
The volunteers ensure pilgrims’ comfort and receive them with hospitality and generosity. Golf vehicles are available to transport the elderly. Using the latest technology, the volunteers serve pilgrims with honor and pride.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has launched the United Hajj e-system, which integrates and connects entities involved in serving pilgrims. Available in seven languages, it is the first system of its kind in the Middle East.
The ministry stressed the importance of expanding the use of technology to serve pilgrims from arrival until departure.
Furthermore, a group of Saudi women and girls have been devoting themselves for eight years to taking care of children who have become lost among the crowds in the holy city during Hajj.
Lina Abu Znadeh, the head of the women’s volunteer scout team for receiving and taking care of lost children during Hajj, confirmed in an interview with Al Arabiya that their teams have an integrated network connected to the Saudi police, hospitals and scouts to help reunite lost children with their loved ones as quickly as possible.
“The volunteers started their work eight years ago, working around the clock during Hajj season,” she said. “We receive lost children and give them all the psychological and moral support. We start by calming them down, because they are usually afraid and panicked. Then we give them a shower and let them change their clothes,” she added.
“The mechanism of reuniting children with their parents or relatives is organized with the relevant authorities operating in the field. First, we report to the state network any details about the lost child, identifying the child by name or by any specific characteristics. Parents come to our center and are reunited with their child, after all the necessary paper work. The child leaves our center with a bracelet containing their name and their parents’ contact numbers in case they get lost again,” said Abu Znadeh.
In the interview, Abu Znadeh revealed some of the obstacles they faced in the early years of their work, such as the difference of languages. However, this helped them become more experienced in finding immediate solutions.
She indicated that the number of lost children has decreased throughout the years due to the increasing awareness among parents. In the center’s first year of operation, 80 lost children were found against 64 children the following year. This number kept decreasing until last year, when there were only 26 lost children.
Abu Znadeh added: “We will start our around-the-clock field work this year Aug. 29 up and finish Sept. 5. Over the years, we had special needs children come to the center (Ex: autistic children), and thus we have now an autism specialist and a therapist on our team.”
Over 7,000 volunteers serve Hajj pilgrims at Jeddah airport
Over 7,000 volunteers serve Hajj pilgrims at Jeddah airport
Amr Moussa: Saudi Arabia and Egypt must lead Arabs for true peace
RIYADH: Amr Moussa, former Arab League secretary-general, has called for the establishment of an effective Arab leadership led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in partnership with Jordan, to unify regional positions and negotiate on the Palestinian cause and broader regional future.
During a panel discussion at the King Fahd National Library in Riyadh on Thursday evening, Moussa stressed this was “both vital and achievable” and emphasized the primary goal should be the establishment of a fully sovereign and effective Palestinian state: “True peace is only that which protects all parties … we need genuine peace, not a facade or a superficial justification,” he said.
Such a state must be “responsible for security and peace in the Middle East alongside its neighbors,” rather than a fragile entity, he added.
Moussa underlined that achieving this objective first requires the Arab world to demonstrate the capacity for unified and decisive action. “Are we as Arabs truly capable of being ‘we,’ or has that moment passed?” he asked.
He said the firm positions taken by Saudi Arabia and Egypt in rejecting forced displacement and calling for an end to aggression “underscore that it is possible to assert ‘no’ when the Arab stance is justified.”
Warning of the severe consequences of maintaining the status quo, he added: “If things continue this way … there will inevitably be something akin to October 7 again, because injustice breeds resistance.”
He placed full responsibility on Israel, saying it “bears complete responsibility for the chaos and destruction.”
On a practical mechanism to implement a unified Arab stance, Moussa proposed that Saudi Arabia and Egypt take the lead in establishing a diplomatic baseline, representing their “yeses and noes” in consultation with other Arab states. This framework, he said, would counter any attempts to impose unjust solutions under labels such as the new international “Peace Council,” which might “demand Palestinian concessions on Palestinian land.”
On whether peace was possible with the current Israeli government, which he described as “not committed to peace,” Moussa said: “There are other Israelis who speak the language of peace.” He urged efforts to “identify and support them to create a political alternative within Israel.”
He said the first thing Palestinians should do is hold comprehensive Palestinian elections as soon as possible, utilizing technology to ensure all Palestinians took part, including those in Jerusalem, to select a new leadership “with strong negotiating legitimacy.”
Moussa also warned that the challenges “are not limited to Palestine,” saying the Arab world faces interconnected crises in Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Lebanon and Libya, alongside shifts in the international order and the race for space.
“The issue of our future (requires) reviving a new Arab world,” capable of actively shaping that future rather than being marginalized, the former secretary-general concluded.
