Muslim pilgrims today head for Mouna and then to Arafat mountain

Some two million Muslim Haj will head today to Mouna in Mecca, in which the Palestinians and families of the Palestinian "martyrs" perform al-Haj rituals for the second time since the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada.

The Palestinians whose children were killed in the Intifada are performing al-Haj for this year at the expense of the Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.

For the second running year, the Saudi King is paying the costs of 1000 Palestinian pilgrims from the West Bank and Gaza.