RAMALLAH: Israeli forces on Saturday closed the Ibrahimi Mosque compound in the West Bank city of Hebron for two days and barred Muslim worshipers from entry under the pretext of Rosh Hashanah security concerns.
Haj Zaid Al-Ja’bari, the head of Wakf and Religious Affaires Department in Hebron, said Israeli authorities closed the complex (which includes the mosque) on Saturday and Sunday to allow Jewish occupiers entry to the place to celebrate the Jewish New Year.
Al-Ja’bari told Arab News that the Israeli forces also implemented tighten security measures in the old city of Hebron in favor of the Jewish occupiers. The complex, also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham (pbuh), is Judaism’s second-holiest site after the Temple Mount. It is also a place of veneration for Christians. The 1,000-year-old Ibrahimi Mosque is the second holiest Islamic site in the Palestinian territory after Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
The mosque was divided into Muslim and Jewish sections by the Israeli government’s Shamgar Committee after a 1994 massacre that took place in the mosque when a Jewish occupier opened fire on Muslim worshippers killing and injuring 26 during Fajr prayer.
Since then, Israeli authorities have violated Muslim rights in the Ibrahimi Mosque by periodically (particularly during Jewish holidays) restricting Muslims to praying in the mosque. The Israeli authorities have also prevented the call to prayer for the evening and night worship times.
Radical Jewish settlers have at times desecrated this holy Mosque ridiculed Muslims while they pray there.
“All heavenly religions prohibit the desecration of holy shrines,” said Al-Ja’bari, calling the move to block Muslims from the complex as a “violation of all international laws and doctrines that calls for free access to the holy places.”
Hebron was divided to two areas according to Wye River agreement, signed by Benjamin Netanyahu (in his first stint as prime minister) and the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 1998.
The so-called H1 Area is under complete Palestinian control, while H2 falls under Israeli jurisdiction. The number of Palestinian living in H1 is estimated to be around 150,000 while the number of Jewish occupiers living in H2 is about 400.
Israeli government policy in the H2 Area has pushed thousands of Palestinian residents out of more than 1,000 homes and at least 1,829 businesses, according to Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights.
