ISRAELI EXTREMIST SETTLERS ‘TO OCCUPY’ THE IBRAHIMI MOSQUE
Ramallah, 21 Dzulhijjah 1434/26 October 2013 (MINA) – Thousands of Israeli extreemist settlers will congregate at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank town of Hebron on Saturday to perform Talmudic rituals and narrate the story of Sarah.
The Ibrahimi Mosque complex is revered by both Muslims and Jews, as it is the burial sites of the prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives.
“Israeli occupation forces have been preventing us from entering the mosque since yesterday morning,” Zaid Al- Jabari, a Palestinian resident, told Anadolu Agency.
“Thousands of extremist Zionist settlers are going to perform Talmudic rituals today inside one of the most holy mosques in the world under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces,” he said.
Sarah, according to Jewish belief, was buried by the Prophet Abraham in the “Cave of the Patriarchs”, or the Ibrahimi mosque.
“Today is the first of ten days that the Israeli authorities will prevent us from praying inside the mosque,” Tayseer Abu Sneneh, director of Hebron Awqaf (religious endowments), told AA.
“They closed all the entries which lead to the Ibrahim Mosque until late tonight,” Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting
This Talmudic occasion turned last year into a large political demonstration involving dozens of politicians and members of the Israeli Knesset (parliament).
The Ibrahimi Mosque complex is revered by both Muslims and Jews, as it is the burial sites of the Prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives.
Following the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque by Jewish extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli authorities decided to keep Muslim and Jewish worshippers separated. (T/P015/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
