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Israeli Soldier Shot as Palestinians Riot Against Jewish Pilgrimage to Joseph’s Tomb

An Israeli soldier was shot and moderately wounded while guarding worshipers at Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.

The soldier was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva and is now in stable condition, an army spokesman said. While Palestinians burned tires and threw firebombs and rocks as the Jewish pilgrims visited the site, Israeli forces responded with riot dispersal tactics and the worshipers were able to complete their prayers “as planned,” the army said in a statement. “The circumstances of the incident are being investigated,” it added.

Israeli citizens are not allowed to enter Nablus, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, without receiving prior authorization. Sixteen buses full of Israeli pilgrims wishing to visit the tomb — which Jews believe to be the burial site for the biblical patriarch, and Muslims view as the final resting place of a local sheikh — traveled to Nablus on Thursday morning, the army said. The IDF helps arrange similar visits to the tomb every month.

“Local Palestinians regularly attack the soldiers guarding the visitors with rocks, firebombs and burning tires,” the Times reported. In this case, the shots were fired near the entrance of the Balata refugee camp, which is located near the tomb and is a stronghold of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a terrorist group established on the eve of the second intifada as the armed wing of Fatah, the party currently led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Three years ago, one of these convoys came under fire after Fatah called for a “day of popular resistance” against Israel. Palestinian rioters set fire to the tomb last October, causing major damage to sections of the site. While Israel and the Palestinian Authority are required by the 1993 Oslo Accords to protect religious sites, Joseph’s Tomb — which was to remain under Israeli control under Oslo — has been attacked several times by Palestinians since the adoption of those 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 subject to 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.

[Photo: dr. avishai teicher / WikiCommons ]