Settlers have urged the Israeli Cabinet to hold a meeting at the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron (Al-Khalil) in defiance of UNESCO’s recent ruling that it is a Palestinian heritage site.
The UN cultural body last week deemed the Old City of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque an endangered Palestinian site, despite an Israeli campaign to block the vote.
In response, settlers called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold a Cabinet meeting at the site in order to reinforce Israel’s ties to the region, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Settlers urge #Israel to hold Cabinet meeting in Ibrahimi Mosque https://t.co/ksKZTQmza8 via @MiddleEastMnt #Palestine pic.twitter.com/8Em9wiKYaa
— al whit (@soitiz) July 11, 2017
In a letter to Netanyahu, a settler community leader in the occupied West Bank, Avi Ro’eh, said: “We have to say in a clear voice that the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Hebron, which is the city of our forefathers, is eternally ours.” The Tomb of the Patriarchs is what Jews call the Ibrahimi Mosque.
The calls come months after the Israeli Cabinet convened in a tunnel under Al-Aqsa mosque, justified by Netanyahu as a move “to mark the liberation and unification of Jerusalem”. However, the Palestinian Authority labeling the move “provocative” as East Jerusalem has been under occupation since 1967.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
