RAMALLAH – Israeli occupation forces raised that Israeli flag over the Al-Ibrahimi mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, a Palestinian official said. Tayseer Abu Snaineh, the director of the Wakf (endowment) Department in Hebron, said that the Israel soldiers raided the mosque and raised the flag on its wall. Abu Snaineh added that the Israeli soldiers also erected several tents at the mosque's external plaza. He harshly slammed the “provocative move” saying that “this is an attack against the religious and historic stature of this site to millions of Muslims around the world.” The official said that the Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the mosque oblige the Palestinian worshipers to undergo strict security check before entering the mosque for prayers. In the same time, Abu Snaineh said, the “Israeli soldiers allow the Jewish settlers to enter the mosque freely under lame excuses.” He said that the “settlers desecrate this holy mosque and often embarrassed and ridicule Muslims while praying.” Al-Ibrahimi Mosque is the second holiest Islamic site Palestinian territories after Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This 1000-year old mosque enshrines the tombs of Prophet Ibrahim, his sons and their wives. The mosque was divided into Muslim and Jewish sections by an Israeli government special committee called “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 at Fajr (dawn) prayer. Since then, Israeli authorities have violated Muslim rights in the Ibrahimi Mosque by restricting Muslims to praying in the Mosque. The authorities gave Jewish occupiers access to the Muslim holy site which Israeli forces close for Jewish holidays. The occupiers desecrated this holy Mosque and often embarrassed and ridicule Muslims while praying. Hebron was divided to two areas according to Wye River agreement, signed by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 1998. H1 area, under complete Palestinian control, and H2, which is under Israeli security control. The number of Palestinian living in the two areas is around 150,000. The total number of Jewish occupiers living in H2 is about 400 permanent residents. Israeli government policy in H2 has forced thousands of Palestinian residents to abandon more than 1,000 homes and at least 1,829 businesses and turned the area into a ghost town, Israeli human rights organizations B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said.
