Israel prevents reconstruction committee from completing the restoration work at the Ibrahimi Mosque

The director and head of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Sheikh Hefzi Abu Sneina declared that the Israeli occupation forces prevented the staff of the Reconstruction Committee from completing the restoration work at the Haram, which includes “maintenance and restoration work on the surface of the Haram, painting walls, cleaning stone by construction, historical Islamic engravings,” and other works. Technical, under the pretext that they do not possess a special permit for that from the competent authorities in the occupation government.

He indicated that working inside the Ibrahimi Mosque [known to Jews as the Cave of Machpelah] is one of the prerogatives of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in coordination with the Reconstruction Committee, and that this procedure comes within the framework of the occupation and settlers’ attempts to impose their control and the provisions of their domination over the Noble Sanctuary.

On last Sunday and Thursday, the occupation forces prevented employees of the Reconstruction Committee from entering the campus and completing the restoration work inside it with the same excuse mentioned above.

It should be noted that the occupation forces prevented, yesterday, the workers from completing the restoration work of marble and the internal pillars in the Dome of the Rock chapel on the campus of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and threatened them with deportation and arrest if they continued to work.

Israeli occupation authorities banned the Muslim call for prayer at Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron 47 times in November 2020 alone, according to Palestinian Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Yousef Ed’ais.

The  minister said that Israeli policy and violations against Muslims aim at preventing them from practicing religious rights have intensified and reached a dangerous level.

The Israeli measures, which include closures of the mosque to allow Jewish settlers to storm the shrine and banning the call for prayer which is repeated not only every month but even on daily basis.

The Minister urged the international community to protect the holy places in Palestine from the Israeli violations or any attempts to change features of the shrines.

Basma Qaddour