Candlestick and music at the Ibrahimi Mosque and reinforcements to the occupation of Hebron

Awad Al-Rajoub-Hebron

At 10 pm on Sunday evening, prayer mats and Korans were removed from the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. Settlers entered the candlestick, musical instruments and Torah scrolls. They would continue for forty-eight hours to expropriate the Ibrahimi Mosque and prevent the raising of the adhaan and banning the entry of Muslims.

The Israeli occupation forces also impose restrictions on the movement of Palestinian residents in the vicinity and prevent the entry of tourists and non-registered residents.

Since the end of last week, the Israeli army has pushed up military reinforcements and deployed troops in the city of Hebron to secure thousands of settlers storming the Ibrahimi Mosque on the Jewish Passover holiday, which began last Friday and continues until the end of next Saturday.

The evacuation of the Haram
The Old City of Hebron, including the Ibrahimi Mosque, is under full Israeli control, in accordance with agreements with the Palestinian Authority. Five outposts, inhabited by more than 600 settlers and over 120 roadblocks, are physically and heavily occupied.

On Monday morning, the Israeli occupation forces deployed heavily in the area of ​​Beersheba Street in the area under the control of the Palestinian Authority, allegedly to secure the storming of settlers of an old building claim to be connected to the Jews.

A committee of inquiry into the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre by Baruch Goldstein in 1994 ended the division of the mosque between Muslims and Jews. The front half of the mosque was closed to Muslims and closed for ten days a year. Muslims only ten days a year, are Islamic occasions, including chopsticks.

Denunciation
The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf condemned the occupation measures in the Ibrahimi Mosque. The director of the endowments in Hebron, Sheikh Jamal Abu Aram said that the occupation takes Jewish holidays as a justification to prevent Muslims from performing their religious rites.

He told Al-Jazeera Net that the occupation does not stop at the end of the closure of the mosque in Jewish religious events, but prevents the raising of the adhaan without justification, where the number of prayer times which prevented the raising of the adhaan to 750 time during 2018, and about 200 time in the first quarter of this year.

The director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Hasheyi Abu Asnina, said that the mosque administration was forced last night to evacuate the mosque from its assets, including copies of the Holy Quran, cupboards and carpets, and no employee is allowed to enter or approach it until 10 pm on Tuesday.

For his part, coordinator of youth against the settlement Issa Amr, the escalation of attacks by settlers tonight and tomorrow against the Palestinian population, especially in the area of ​​Tel Rumeida, pointing to the closure of most neighborhoods in the vicinity of the campus and forced residents to search for routes, often from houses, to get to their homes.

He said that thousands of settlers are arriving in Hebron today, and will reach the peak tomorrow, where they perform prayers in the Ibrahimi Mosque and the surrounding streets.

He pointed to the spread of activists within the framework of a youth rally against settlements in the areas of Tel Rmeida and Hara Salaima to document the attacks and prevent settlers settlers as far as possible.

Some 7,000 Palestinians live in the Old City of Hebron, most vulnerable to settler attacks and Judaization.

Under the Hebron Protocol of 1997, the Palestinian Authority took over parts of the city of Hebron, known as Kh1, which constitute 80 per cent of the area of ​​the city, while Israeli control of the remaining section Kh2, which is home to some 45,000 inhabitants, is located in the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque.