Islamic Sites in Occupied Palestinian Territories Constantly Violated by Israeli Forces, Settlers

The Ibrahimi Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Palestinian territories have been regularly violated by Israeli occupation forces and Jewish settlers in massive raids

News ID: 447760

Date: 28 November 2019 - 09:24

RNA - Thousands of Jewish extremist settlers, under tight military protection, forced their way into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, Daily Sabah reported.

The latest event, selected to coincide with the Jewish holiday Chayevi Sarah, is one in a series of violations of Islamic holy sites under the illegal Israeli occupation.

Dozens of Israeli security forces were deployed across the streets of Hebron's old city, preventing Palestinians from approaching the site, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).

Tension has been high in Hebron since Friday, when extremist settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the city, injuring several people.

Revered by both Muslims and Jews, the Ibrahimi Mosque complex is believed to mark the burial sites of the prophets Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian worshipers inside the mosque by Jewish extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, Israeli authorities divided the mosque complex between Muslim and Jewish worshipers.

Since then, the Israeli military regularly closes the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim worshipers by setting up a "closed military zone" around the mosque and allows extremist Jewish settlers to enter the whole sacred site to observe their rituals with the aim of annexing a large area of it for settler use.

Home to 150,000 Palestinians, Hebron is one of the most volatile cities in the West Bank, land occupied by Israel since 1967. Some 400 religiously-motivated Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in the city.

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