A photo taken on July 7, 2017 shows Jews and tourists heading towards the Tomb of the Patriarchs, also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque. (Credit: Hazem Bader/ AFP)
A symbolic first step was taken before the heritage site disappears for good. On Tuesday, Israeli authorities dismantled the canopy that covered the courtyard of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the heart of Hebron's old city. The Palestinian Islamic Waqf, which until now had jointly managed the sanctuary, denounced a "flagrant aggression," seeing it as an attempt to alter the site’s historical and Islamic identity by transforming its courtyards, arcades and walls. In this historic West Bank city, steadily eaten away by Israeli settlers and strangled by checkpoints, Palestinians have been witnessing for months their gradual dispossession from one of the oldest mosques in Palestine.On June 16, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he had removed the Palestinian...
A symbolic first step was taken before the heritage site disappears for good. On Tuesday, Israeli authorities dismantled the canopy that covered the courtyard of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the heart of Hebron's old city. The Palestinian Islamic Waqf, which until now had jointly managed the sanctuary, denounced a "flagrant aggression," seeing it as an attempt to alter the site’s historical and Islamic identity by transforming its courtyards, arcades and walls. In this historic West Bank city, steadily eaten away by Israeli settlers and strangled by checkpoints, Palestinians have been witnessing for months their gradual dispossession from one of the oldest mosques in Palestine.On June 16, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he had removed the...
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