Since 1967, Israeli authorities have violated Muslim rights in the Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, by restricting Muslims to praying in the Mosque only on Fridays.
Jewish tourists desecrated this holy Mosque and often embarrassed and ridicule Muslims while praying. Contrary to Muslim rights, Jews encroached on the Mosque and started using part of it for Jewish prayers. Against the protests of the Muslims of Hebron and the Islamic Higher Council in Jerusalem, Jewish authorities brought hundreds of benches and placed them in the Mosque. Jews built a roof on a part of the mosque, with the object of converting it into a Jewish synagogue.
On the 16th of November 1972 the Chairman of the Islamic Higher Council in Jerusalem, Sheikh Hilmi Al-Muhtasib, held a press conference outside Al Aqsa Mosque. As reported in the Jerusalem Post of November 17, 1972, Sheikh Al-Muhtasib stated: “Ever since the West Bank was occupied in June 1967, Jews have been forcing their way into Hebron’s Ibrahim Mosque, committing acts of provocation and being insensitive to the feelings of the Muslims, the shrine’s legitimate owners.” Sheikh Al-Muhtasib stated further “that the site was gradually being turned into a synagogue. The latest act of aggression at the Hebron shrine was the most serious in a list of trespasses committed since 1967.” In reply to a question, Sheikh Al-Muhtasib said: “Muslims did not oppose Jewish visits to the Hebron shrine, but were against Jews holding prayers on the site, which has been a mosque for the 14 centuries. There can be no compromise on this.”
During the first week of August 1975, the Jewish press published information that the Israeli cabinet had decided to introduce new arrangements for Jewish and Muslim prayers at the Muslim mosque. The new arrangements provided for the division of the Holy Site space-wise rather than time wise, as therefore. Two halls of the Mosque were to be reserved for Muslim prayers throughout the day, and there halls were to be used for Jewish prayers only.
Source: Encyclopedia of Palestine Problem by Issa Nakhleh.
