Yesterday,the Friday prayers were disturbed at Al Haram Al Ibrahimi Mosque , one of Islam’s holiest sites by Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank Hebron area.
The Jewish settlers of the Hebron area are known to be among the most extremely fundamentalist and violent of all the illegal settlers in the West Bank. In an attempt to upset worshippers and prevent the prayer service from continuing, they.shouted and sang outside the entrance of Al Haram Al Ibrahimi Mosque.
The inability of Hebron Palestinians to freely worship is not a new problem. This is a violation of International Law. For months, Israeli forces have prevented Muslims from accessing the holy site, utilizing a system of barriers and gates. Earlier this year Israeli forces imposed an electronic gate outside its doors, requiring school children to pass through its harmful rays. They refused and held nonviolent sit-ins for days. Israeli soldiers responded with gas, beatings and rubber bullets.
The Palestine News Network reported that Hebron officials on Saturday stated that as the Mosque is in the center of Hebron, in a distinctly Muslim area, there is no reason why the Israeli settlers should disrupt the prayers. The officials encouraged residents to continue praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque, and also to patronize the town’s shops there that Israeli forces had previously closed.
The Chief Islamic Court in Jerusalem, headed by Sheikh Taysir Al Tamimi, held an emergency meeting in Jerusalem Saturday morning to discuss the interruption of Friday prayers by Israeli settlers yesterday.
