Israeli sources have reported that two colonizers were injured early Tuesday after Palestinian fighters opened fire at their car in Nablus city, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
The sources said the colonizers were part of a group that was not authorized to enter Nablus but went there anyway to visit Joseph’s Tomb, east of Nablus city, before they came under fire by Palestinian fighters.
They added that the colonizers’ vehicle crashed and burnt before Israeli soldiers invaded Nablus and extracted them.
The two wounded colonizers were transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment.
Joseph the patriarch is revered by Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans alike, however, the Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized pilgrimages, despite the site being in Area A where the PA has full control and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the site.
Ultra-orthodox and nationalist Jews regularly 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.
