Monday 25 February 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre in the city of Hebron (al-Khalil) perpetrated by Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein who killed 29 Palestinians and injured some 150 others.
On Friday 25 February 1994 the terrorist Goldstein carried out the massacre when he entered the Ibrahimi Mosque at the time of prayer. He was wearing his military uniform and fired three stores from his machine gun at the Palestinian worshipers performing the Dawn prayer. A number of worshipers survived the massacre and killed him.
The Israeli occupation forces closed the gates of the Mosque to prevent worshipers from running away and prevented those coming from outside to reach the area to save the wounded. Later other Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers outside the Mosque and during the funerals of martyrs; the total number of martyrs jumped to 50.
Goldstein 42 a founder of the Kach Movement came to Palestine from the United States in 1980 and lived in the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. He declared before committing his crime that he would commit an act that would “actually stop history” as he put it at the time.
On the day of the massacre the tension escalated in the city of Hebron and its villages and all Palestinian cities and as a result of clashes with the occupation soldiers 60 more Palestinian martyrs were killed.
Following the massacre the occupation forces closed the Ibrahimi Mosque and the Old City for six months at the pretext of investigating the crime. The investigation committee was formed unilaterally by the Israeli Supreme Court Judge Meir Shamgar to investigate the massacre and its causes.
At the time the committee issued several recommendations including the division of the Ibrahimi Mosque into two sections and imposed a difficult reality on the lives of citizens in the Old City and placed heavy security in the region.
The committee gave the occupation the right to rule over 60% of the Mosque in order to Judaize and seize it. Repeatedly the occupation prevented raising the call for prayer at the Mosque many times. It also recommended opening the entire mosque for 10 days throughout the year for Muslims only and opening it for 10 more days for Jews only.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs issued a statement on Monday in conjunction with the anniversary confirming that “The Ibrahimi Mosque is a pure Islamic mosque a property of the Muslim Waqf alone and no decision whatever could change this status and it will remain so.”
The Ministry confirmed that it has the jurisdiction and control of the Mosque in terms of religious administrative and legal issues which was confirmed by UNESCO’s decision to add the Mosque to the list of the World Heritage stressing its strong rejection of all Judaization measures taken by the occupation against the Mosque and its surroundings and the Old City of Hebron.
The Ministry stressed in the statement that the Ibrahimi Mosque continues to be subjected to serious violations by the occupation forces and settlers. In 2018 the occupation prevented the call for prayer 631 times and closed it to Muslim worshipers for ten full days. These violations and aggression are of various types which require us to work seriously to stop them noted the Ministry.
The statement pointed out that what the Mosque was exposed to of division both in terms of time and place and the control imposed on it which is void legally and legitimately as it is a sacred place for Muslims not only in Palestine but in the Muslim World as a whole will not in any way be implemented at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Aqsa Mosque is subjected to an unjust campaign and serious violations related to sovereignty the last attempt of which was aimed at controlling Al-Rahma Gate.
The Ministry said that the people of Palestine in general and the people of the city of Hebron in particular should intensify their presence at the Mosque to protect it.
The Ministry called for the resumption of the Palestinian presence there and the establishment of a program of religious cultural and social activities that lead to the presence of Muslim worshipers there around the clock to face Israeli plans with full unity and national consensus regarding general national issues of collective destiny.
