Jewish holiday, Israel Closes Ibrahimi Mosque

Hebron, MINA – Palestinian Authority condemned Israeli occupation authority’s decision to close Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron which was occupied for the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur on Tuesday, September 8.

Palestinian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, Husam Abu Al-Rob, said the Ibrahimi Mosque needs to be “rescued” to end all the damage which causes every day, MEMO reported.

The occupation decision regarding Ibrahimi Mosque was “provocative, with ambition and evil intentions”, Al-Rob warned, adding that there were 52 incidents in the past month when calls for prayer prevented at Muslim holy sites.

He described the site’s closure and desecration by settlers as a “blatant attack on Muslims and every Islamic site.”

Al-Rob said Israel seeks to take full control of the mosque and regularly increase Jewish access.

Last month, Israeli authorities closed Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslims because of a Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah.

Last year 15,000 settlers stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque in front of Yom Kippor, or “Day of Atonement”.

The Ibrahimi Mosque, believed to be the burial place of the Prophet Ibrahim, is sacred to Muslims and Jews, whose tensions often occur for decades.

The holy site was split into a synagogue known by Jews as the Cave of the Ancestors and a mosque after US-born Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein slaughtered 29 Palestinians inside the mosque in 1994. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)