AL-KHALIL, (The Palestine Information Centre)The Israeli occupation army announced on Tuesday the closure of the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil City to Muslim worshipers for one day to allow Jewish settlers to celebrate a religious event.
Director of the Mosque Ghassan al-Rajbi said that the Israeli army closed the Mosque last night and informed him of its intent to bar Muslim worshipers from entering the holy site until 10 O’clock on Wednesday night.
Rajbi said that the administration of the Mosque would not be able to hold the five prayers today.
He added that the Israeli army opened the entire Mosque with its courtyards, corridors and buildings to Jewish settlers, who started in the morning to flock into the Islamic holy site for rituals and celebrations.
He described the closure as “a blatant violation of the Mosque’s sanctity and a provocative and aggressive step against Muslims’ right to have access to their places of worship.”
After the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers inside the Mosque by the Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, the IOA imposed its control over the Islamic holy site and divided it between Muslims and Jewish settlers.
Muslims are also not allowed to recite the call to prayer (Adhan) from their holy site at the pretext that the settlers living [illegally] in al-Khalil feel disturbed by the Adhan sound.
