- Palestine
- July 1, 2010
- 2 minutes read
Sources: Israel steadily changes the Ibrahimi Mosque
While preventing the Palestinian municipal council of Al-Khalil city from making renovations and repairs in different areas of the Old City.
The sources added that the IOA told the municipal council of Al-Khalil that It would allow it to make its renovation projects in the Old City if it accepted to make certain Jewish changes inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, especially in its courtyard.
It is known that Al-Khalil municipal council affiliated with the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to the Oslo accords, is responsible for all service projects including water, electricity, waste disposal and sanitation services as well as road building and all kinds of renovations, while Israel is responsible for providing security protection for 400 settlers controlling the lives of more than 100,000 Palestinian natives living in the Old City of Al-Khalil and its environs.
Israel had seized the bulk of the Ibrahimi Mosque immediately after the massacre which was committed by terrorist Baruch Goldstein in 1994 and since then the Muslims are not allowed to pray in most parts of the Mosque except during holidays and religious occasions under tight military presence.
Israeli settlers are the only ones who are allowed to use all sections of the Mosque during their festivals and religious occasions.
The Mosque is exposed to an Israeli systematic campaign aimed at changing its Islamic features, especially after Benjamin Netanyahu decided to annex it to the Jewish heritage list.
The IOA, first, demands the PA ministry of religious affairs or the municipal council of Al-Khalil to make the changes it wants to the Mosque, but if they refuse, the IOA ignores them and goes ahead with its changes