Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site located near the West Bank city of Nablus, was set ablaze last night by Palestinian rioters. The shrine, which is in an area under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, had previously been torched in 1996 and 2000.

The Times of Israel reported more:

Channel 2 television said Palestinian Authority security forces dispersed the hundred-strong crowd and managed to douse the fire at the tomb, believed to contain the remains of the biblical patriarch Joseph. Israel Defense Forces troops arrived at the scene once the confrontation was over and the fire was out, the television station reported.

The Walla website also reported that PA security forces had brought the fire under control and dispersed the rioters. The blaze caused major damage to the women’s section at the site, the website said. …

“The burning and desecration of Joseph’s Tomb last night is a blatant violation and contradiction of the basic value of freedom of worship. The IDF will take all measures to bring the perpetrators of this despicable act to justice, restore the site to its previous condition and ensure that the freedom of worship returns to Joseph’s Tomb,” IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a statement Friday morning.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority are required by the Oslo Accords to protect religious sites, but Joseph’s Tomb has been attacked several times by Palestinians since the adoption of those peace agreements. In September 1996, Palestinians attacked the site, killing six Israeli soldiers stationed there and setting it ablaze with Molotov cocktails. It was attacked and burned again in October 2000.

Other religious sites under Palestinian control have also been the subject of violent destruction. In 2002, Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity was commandeered for 39 days by Palestinian terrorists escaping from Israeli forces. The terrorists ransacked the church and held a number of clergy and lay people hostage during the siege.

CNN’s original headline today stated that the shrine merely caught fire, without indicating how the fire had started.

The attack on Joseph’s Tomb comes amid violence provoked by Palestinian leaders falsely accusing Israel of changing the status quo on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.

[Photo: CNN ]