Israeli soldiers injured, Thursday, many Palestinians in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, after dozens of soldiers and colonists invaded its eastern area.
Media sources said many army jeeps accompanied buses transporting illegal Israeli colonialists into the Joseph’s Tomb, in the eastern areas of Nablus.
The soldiers closed the surrounding areas, preventing the Palestinians from entering or leaving their communities, leading to protests.
The army fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and gas bombs at the Palestinians, causing many to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation.
Joseph the Patriarch is revered by Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans alike. The Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized pilgrimages, despite the site’s location in Area A of the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has full control, and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the site.
Ultra-orthodox and nationalist Jews constantly try to visit the shrine without approval, as many Jews believe the tomb to be the final resting place of the biblical figure in the Old Testament.
Palestinians believe that Joseph’s Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh Yousif Dweikat, a local religious figure.
