AL-KHALIL, (PIC)
The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs warned on Sunday of Israel’s attempts to take control of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.
In a statement, the ministry condemned “statements made by Likud MK Avichai Boaron, in which he called for taking full control of the Ibrahimi Mosque and completely placing it under Israeli sovereignty.”
On Thursday, video footage went viral on Hebrew media showing Boaron saying, “We will take the Cave of Machpelah (the Ibrahimi Mosque) meter by meter, just as we started with one meter.. We have a good defense minister (referring to the new right-wing minister, Israel Katz), and friends abroad. This is our chance! We have two years to do this, the place will not remain stuck in 1967.”
The Palestinian Endowments said that “the statements came within the Israeli dangerous systematic policy of targeting this holy site, which is internationally recognized as an Islamic endowment owned by the Palestinian people.”
The ministry called on international human rights and UN institutions concerned with world heritage to “stand firmly against the Israeli implementation of these plans, which constitute a real threat to the identity of the Ibrahimi Mosque.”
UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided in July 2017 to include the Ibrahimi Mosque and the old city of al-Khalil on its World Heritage List.
Under the al-Khalil Agreement signed in 1997 between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, the city was divided into two areas — H1 subject to Palestinian control and H2 under Israeli control. It is estimated that 20% of the city’s area, in which the old city and the Ibrahimi Mosque are located, is in H2.
