Israel to take administrative control over Tomb of Patriarchs/abrahimi mosque for construction work

Defence affairs

Civil Administration says move temporary, authority will be returned to Palestinian Hebron municipality when work is finished, but settler council claims it’s now in charge at holy site.

Israeli authorities have said they are taking control of the management of the Tomb of the Patriarchs holy site in Hebron, in order to carry out construction work at the flashpoint West Bank shrine.

According to the Civil Administration, a branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Affairs in the Territories (COGAT) liaison to the Palestinians, the government has authorized a process whereby Israeli authorities will be able to build a canopy over a courtyard in the Tomb of the Patriarchs complex to provide shade to worshipers.

The Civil Administration has said that the bureaucratic process for enabling this work to go ahead is in its “advanced stages,” and will be for the benefit of “all population groups who pray at the site.”

The Tomb of the Patriarchs is revered in Judaism as the burial site of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. It is also a holy site for Muslims, and a large section of the compound serves as the Ibrahimi Mosque. The site features different times and spaces for Jewish and Muslim prayer, and any change to the arrangements typically attracts condemnation.

Israeli authorities have accused the Islamic Waqf — a religious trust that, together with the municipal authority of the Palestinian city of Hebron, has administered the Tomb of the Patriarchs thus far — of failing to cooperate regarding necessary renovations to the site.