Leading Palestinian news service report ignores agreement permitting Jewish
prayer at Joseph's Tomb
Dr. Aaron Lerner 20 February 2019

Ma'an: " The Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized
pilgrimages, despite the site being located in Area A where the Palestinian
Authority has full control, and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the
site."

Ma'an declined to mention that under the Interim Agreement of September 28,
1995 Joseph's Tomb is a "Jewish Holy Site" where "the present situation and
the existing religious practices shall be preserved." At the time of the
signing Jews were exclusively praying 24/7 at the site. -

Injuries, detentions reported as Israeli settlers raid Joseph's Tomb
Feb. 20, 2019 11:34 A.M. (Updated: Feb. 20, 2019 3:39 P.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=782614

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Several Palestinians were injured by Israeli ammunition,
while others suffered tear-gas suffocation, as hundreds of Israeli settlers
raided Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus City in the northern occupied West Bank, on
predawn Wednesday.

Medical sources reported that Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel
bullets, injuring Palestinian journalist Mutassef Saqf al-Heit with a
rubber-coated steel bullet in the abdomen; he was transferred to the
Rafidiya Governmental Hospital for treatment.

Sources added that several Palestinians who suffered tear-gas suffocation
were treated on the spot.

Palestinian security sources told Ma'an that Israeli forces detained three
Palestinian youths.

Israeli forces escorted more than twenty Israeli military vehicles escorted
a convoy of buses carrying hundreds of Israeli settlers into Joseph's Tomb.

Joseph's Tomb is revered by Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans alike.
The Israeli military allows Jews to visit as part of organized pilgrimages,
despite the site being located in Area A where the Palestinian Authority has
full control, and prohibits Muslims from worshiping at the site.

Ultra-orthodox and nationalist Jews regularly try to visit the shrine
without approval, as many Jews believe the tomb to be the final resting
place of the biblical figure in the Old Testament.

Palestinians believe that Joseph's Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh
Yousif Dweikat, a local religious figure