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PA officials deny Jewish connection to Cave of the Patriarchs, and accuse Israel of “forgery of history and the cultural heritage of the holy sites” in Jerusalem and Hebron

Headline: “The occupation government’s minister of economy and industry invaded the Ibrahimi Mosque”
    “Director and Guardian of the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) Sheikh Hafzi Abu Sneineh condemned [Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Eli] Cohen’s b reaking into the Ibrahimi Mosque (PMW found no record of Cohen recently visiting the Cave of the Patriarchs –Ed.)… He considered his presence unacceptable and offensive to the sensibilities of the Muslims. He said: ‘The Ibrahimi Mosque is solely a Muslim mosque with all of its territory and parts – the interior and exterior ones. The Jews have no connection at all to the Ibrahimi Mosque (sic., the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs other than Rachel are buried at the site), and all of the steps being taken by them against it are null and illegal’…
Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash strongly condemned Cohen’s invasion of the Ibrahimi Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation army. In a press release yesterday [June 25, 2018], he said that the attempts of the ruling institution in Israel to establish a new reality at the Islamic sites in the cities of Jerusalem and Hebron will fail and never succeed, because they are based on lies and have no historical, religious, or legal basis.
He added that the forgery of history and the cultural heritage of the holy sites, and particularly the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and the Ibrahimi Mosque, are considered a war crime punishable by international law, which has confirmed time after time that these two sites are holy sites for Muslims only, and those who are not Muslim have no right to be there.”

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