More Arab Anti-Semitism

When the Arabs claim they are not ant-Semitic and that they have nothing against Jew but Zionism mis the problem, tell them about this little item:


Hundreds of settlers break into Yussef’s Tomb performing Talmudic rituals

NABLUS Shchem, (PIC)– Hundreds of Jewish settlers broke into Yussef’s Tomb to the east of Nablus in West bank last night to perform Talmudic rituals under IOF protection.

Eyewitnesses said that 15 military vehicles stormed the eastern part of Nablus, and headed towards Yussef’s tomb to secure the entry of buses and cars carrying hundreds of Jewish settlers who came to perform religious Talmudic rituals.

The sources affirmed that the occupation forces fired stun grenades and tear gas against Palestinian houses in the area. They continued in their rituals till the morning hours, using loudspeakers and loud music during their prayers, caused great nuisance to the residents who threw stones and empty bottles as a response to their provocation.

It should be noted that the Israeli settlers have repeatedly stormed the Tomb which was an Islamic mosque built over a tomb of an Islamic Sheikh named Youssef Dweikat from the town of Balata. It was seized by Israeli settlers just after the occupation of the West Bank in 1967 under the pretext that it contains Tomb of Prophet Youssef.

Remember,

a) "Talmudic rituals" is an anti-Semitic buzz phrase.  Jewish ritual practices stem from the Bible.

b) that Joseph's tomb is in Shchem predates Arab arrival in the country.

c) the Oslo Accords recognized Jewish holy site status of the building in detailing arrangements regarding the Tomb in Article V(2b) of Annex I, which were designed “to ensure free, unimpeded and secure access” to the site.

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Outrage at Kever Yosef

Source:

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Looking Towards Shchem

Tuesday evening, May 31, Mount Gerizim will be the iste of a mass 'overlook' of Shchem and Joseph's Tomb:

In memory of BenYo Livnat.

What Is The Worth of Signed Agreements?

Not even the paper they are written on.

Here is the agreement:

Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Annex I:
Protocol Concerning Redeployment and Security Arrangements
2. Area A
a. The Council will, upon completion of the redeployment of Israeli military forces it each district, as set out in Appendix 1 to this Annex, assume the powers and responsibilities for internal security and public order in Area A in that district.

b. Jewish Holy Sites

(1) The following provisions will apply with respect to the security arrangements in Jewish holy sites in Area A which are listed in Appendix 4 to this Annex:

(a) While the protection of these sites, as well as of persons visiting them, will be under the responsibility of the Palestinian Police, a JMU shall function in the vicinity of, and on the access routes to, each such site, as directed by the relevant DCO.

(b) The functions of each such JMU shall be as follows:

(i) to ensure free, unimpeded and secure access to the relevant Jewish holy site; and

(ii) to ensure the peaceful use of such site, to prevent any potential instances of disorder and to respond to any incident.

(c) Given the Jewish religious nature of such sites, Israeli plainclothes guards may be present inside such sites.

(2) The present situation and the existing religious practices shall be preserved.

Appendix 4
Jewish Holy Sites
Pursuant to Article V of this Annex the Jewish Holy Sites are as follows:

1. Joseph's Tomb (Nablus)

Here is the "worth":-

Israeli killed, five wounded in shooting near Nablus


30-year-old killed, five injured as cars were attacked en route to Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank; driver of attacked car sped to nearest army base.

One person, 30, was killed and five others were severely injured in a shooting attack in the West Bank on Sunday.  The group of Breslev hassids was shot at in their car as they were entering the city of Nablus en route to Joseph's Tomb. The driver drove to the nearest army base where they were tended to. One passenger, who sustained wounds to his upper body, could not be revived and died Sunday morning. A 20-year-old and a 17-year-old were taken to Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson in Petah Tikva with moderate injuries, and three more were treated on the army base for minor wounds.

Oh, and who did the shooting?

Palestinian Authority Police Kill Israeli near Joseph's Tomb


Palestinian Authority police Sunday morning shot and killed one Israeli and wounded three others when they tried to pray at Joseph's Tomb (Kever Yosef) around 6 a.m. Sunday (11 p.m. Saturday night EDT). Names are not yet released...The IDF hurriedly issued a statement that the trip to Kever Yosef was not coordinated with Israeli security forces....The Breslov group was known to Palestinian Authority authorities as people who frequently prayed at Kever Yosef without any other intentions, according to Gershon Mesika, chairman of the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council. He called the shooting attack a “massacre at close range.

National Union Knesset Member Dr. Michael Ben-Ari indirectly blamed the American government for having “trained and armed the enemy army that is called the ‘Palestinian Authority police’ and is directly responsible for the murder at Kever Yosef.”  He called on the Israeli government to restore the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva to Kever Yosef and to confiscate weapons from the Palestinian Authority

And this

The Palestinian Authority was investigating the incident and has detained several of its security officers for questioning.

Were those US-trained armed militants that did the shooting?

UPDATE

The murdered Jew is Ben-Yosef, the son of Noam Livnat, nephew of Minister of Culture & Sport Limor Livnat and grandson of my good friends Shulamit and Uzi-Azriel Livnat.  And grandson of Professor Arnold Blumberg, author of "Zion Before Zionism".

and he was the father of four.

Let's not forget the US warning of two years ago.  And this assessment.
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A Visit To A Grave

Here's my friend Josh Hasten at Kever Yosef, Joseph's Tomb in Shchem (Nablus):



And he writes:


A night of mixed emotions.

Amazing to visit Kever Yosef, but very sad that we have to sneak into one of our holy sites in the middle of the night in a convoy of bullet proof buses, with about 100 soldiers.

Also very sad how the site was desecrated by our "peace partners".

Still, an uplifting experience to be there.

From Destruction and Violation To Rennovation

Hundreds of settlers enter Joseph's Tomb on Wednesday night, accompanied by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The visit followed a renovation of the site, considered the burial place of biblical patriarch Joseph, which had been desecrated by Palestinians over the past few years.

Amazing, eh?

After all,

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which granted nearby strategic territory to the Palestinians, Joseph's Tomb was supposed to be accessible to Jews and Christians.

When the Palestinians signed the Oslo II agreement, they promised to "ensure free access to, respect the ways of worship in, and not make any changes to, the Jewish holy sites" on land given up by Israel. [They made the same promise in the Gaza-Jericho accord in 1994 and the Hebron accord in 1997.] Among the listed sites: the venerable "Peace Upon Israel" (shalom al yisrael) synagogue in Jericho and the yeshiva at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Today, neither exists. In October, Palestinians burned down the synagogue. They smashed Joseph's Tomb to rubble and trampled its holy books, and announced that a mosque would be built on the site.

Yes, really, it's ours

But following repeated attacks against Jewish worshippers at the holy site by gunmen associated with then-Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat's militias, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October 2000 ordered an Israeli unilateral retreat from the area.

Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, is responsible for the rennovation work.

This year the Shomron Regional Council and the "Shchem Echad" association initiated visits to the gravesite, accompanied by IDF soldiers. The visitors were shocked by the condition of the gravestone, which had turned into a pile of stones. The entire site was burned and filled with heaps of trash. In light of the gravestone's severe condition, it was decided to try and renovate it. A group of Jewish professionals arrived at the site on Monday night, renovated the gravestone and cleaned the gravesite...

..."We feel pain over the situation at Joseph's Tomb in the past nine years," said Yehuda Liebman of the "Shchem Echad" association. "We view this act as the first step in repairing what is needed: Returning the situation to its previous condition and repairing it."

By the way, while the story claims only "settlers" were there, I know that on the bus I returned home on last night there were a half-dozen Yeshiva boys, Americans from Jerusalem, going there.

The New York Times Visits Joseph's Tomb

Found this slide show presentation at the NYTimes web site.

It relates that

Situated in the heart of a Palestinian district on the West Bank is Joseph's Tomb, a tiny half-derelict compound that many Jews believe is the final burial place of the son of Jacob, the biblical patriarch....

To Jewish pilgrims, this is not Nablus, one of the largest Palestinian cities, but the site of the ancient biblical city of Shechem. The tomb, they believe, sits on the parcel of ground that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver...

At Joseph's Tomb, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is boiled down to its very essence of competing territorial, national and religious claims.

Okay, so the NYT isn't favorably disposed to the Jewishness quotient of the Land of Israel which doesn't recognize a "Palestine".

But Rina Castelnuovo's pics are great.










There are more there.

Joseph's Tomb Seen From Mt. Gerizim

Photograph by Yonah Tzoref