PA: Netanyahu “invaded” and “defiled” Hebron - it’s an “obvious war”
The Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence. Following yesterday's visit by Israeli leaders to Hebron, the PA is now saying that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's presence there was an act of "obvious war" and that he "defiled" the city:
"The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs emphasized that [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu]'s defilement of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) is nothing but obvious war, in which he has declared his blatant hatred towards the Palestinian presence in Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is a purely Islamic mosque."
Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019
Palestinian Media Watch reported yesterday that the PA might want to launch a new wave of terror since the PA ministry, prior to Netanyahu's visit, compared it to then opposition leader Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in 2000, which Arafat exploited to ignite the PA's 5-year terror campaign - the Intifada - in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered in terror attacks.
This hate speech and these messages of incitement to violence from the PA are continuing. The Palestinian Arab Front, which is a member of the PLO, called Netanyahu's visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs a "defilement" and "a clear declaration of war." The organization further incited violence, calling for "a popular response," promising that its "fighting people will not sit idly by":
"The Palestinian Arab Front said that Netanyahu's invasion of the Ibrahimi Mosque and defilement of it constitute a clear declaration of war and contempt for the Muslims' sensibilities... It called for a popular response that will be at the level of the crime the occupation forces are committing. The front added: 'Our fighting people will not sit idly by before the defilement of its holy sites. The occupation bears full responsibility for this crime. [Our people] will defend its holy sites with all its strength.'"
Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019
Yesterday, the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Netanyahu's visit "a provocative colonialist and racist visit" and "warned against the dangers and consequences" of it. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2019]
PA's Supreme Shari'ah Judge of Palestine Mahmoud Al-Habbash likewise used this opportunity to incite violence against Israelis, and he also compared it to Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount.
Supreme Shari'ah Judge of Palestine Mahmoud Al-Habbash:
"Al-Habbash said in a press statement that the Palestinian people's memory still lives, and he recalled the results of extremist [then Israeli Opposition Leader] Ariel Sharon's invasion of the Jerusalem Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) 20 years ago (a visit used by the PA to ignite the PA terror campaign - the second Intifada, 2000-2005 -Ed)...
He called on the residents of Hebron and the adjacent areas and all the Palestinians in the West Bank to increase their presence in the Old City of Hebron and carry out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) and pray inside the holy Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Tomb of the Patriarchs), in order to thwart the plans of the occupation and its leadership and in order to emphasize that this land is ours and that these holy sites are ours, and we will defend them with all the strength and determination we have."
Prior to the visit, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, stated that the Israeli leaders' visit was "a serious escalation and a provocation of the feelings of Muslims." He warned of "dangerous repercussions" and described the visit as a "dangerous escalation which aims at dragging the area into a religious war that no one can bear its consequences." [Wafa, official Palestinian news agency, English edition, Sept. 4, 2019]
Hanan Ashrawi, senior official of the PLO Executive Committee, claimed the visit was a "willful declaration of hostility":
"The Palestinian leadership condemns this inflammatory action and considers it a willful declaration of hostility against the Palestinian people."
Wafa, official Palestinian news agency, English edition, Sept. 4, 2019
The following are longer excerpts of the reports cited above and additional reports with reactions from the PA to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Hebron:
Headline: "Official condemnations and condemnations from the factions of Netanyahu and [Israeli President Reuven] Rivlin's invasion of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque"
"The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs emphasized that [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu]'s defilement of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) is nothing but obvious war, in which he has declared his blatant hatred towards the Palestinian presence in Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is a purely Islamic mosque...
In a statement this evening (sic., yesterday evening), Wednesday [Sept. 4, 2019], the Ministry of Religious Affairs said that Netanyahu's statement as he defiled Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque - according to which 'they [the Jews] are not foreigners in Hebron and will remain there forever' - is wrong and opposes historical logic. The ministry added that their [the Jews'] history is nothing but a legend that will remain in the history books, and that the occupation's fate is to pass from the world...
[Fatah] Revolutionary Council member and Fatah Spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi said that occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's invasion of Hebron will not change by one bit the fact that Hebron - including its Ibrahimi Mosque in its entirety and its Old City with all its alleys - was and will remain Palestinian Arab. He added that 'The thief's visit to the scene of the crime is proof of his blatant aggression.'
Al-Qawasmi emphasized: 'Netanyahu is attempting to obtain the votes of the extremists who are striving to make the conflict religious, and this is political and moral bankruptcy.' ...
Al-Qawasmi emphasized: 'Fifty-two years after the occupation of Hebron, all of the forgeries and lies regarding the history, the oppression of the Palestinian Canaanites - the true owners of the land, the massacres against the worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque, its division (i.e., division of Muslim and Jewish prayer times), the division of the city, and the imposition of an apartheid regime - all of this has not changed and will not change the Arab-Palestinian face of Hebron. The Ibrahimi Mosque will remain purely Islamic in its entirety, despite the aggression.' ...
The Palestinian Arab Front (i.e., a member of the PLO) said that Netanyahu's invasion of the Ibrahimi Mosque and defilement of it constitute a clear declaration of war and contempt for the Muslims' sensibilities...
It called for a popular response that will be at the level of the crime the occupation forces are committing. The front added: 'Our fighting people will not sit idly by before the defilement of its holy sites. The occupation bears full responsibility for this crime. [Our people] will defend its holy sites with all its strength.'"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019]
Headline: "The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns Netanyahu's visit to Hebron and warns against its colonialist consequences"
"The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to make a provocative colonialist visit today [Sept. 4, 2019] to Hebron, its Old City, and the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs), as revealed by the Hebrew (i.e., Israeli) media. This is on the pretext of participating in state ceremonies to mark the 90th anniversary of the Al-Buraq Rebellion (i.e., the 1929 Hebron Massacre and accompanying riots, 65 Jews murdered) and promoting the occupation's narrative about what happened during it.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday that this visit is a colonialist and racist visit par excellence, which Netanyahu is making at the height of his election campaign in an attempt to draw votes from the right-wing and the extremist right-wing...
The ministry warned against the dangers and consequences of Netanyahu's visit to the heart of occupied Hebron."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2019]
Headline: "Ashrawi: Netanyahu is pandering to extreme rightwing settlers and provoking religious tensions"
"Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the Israeli President and Prime Minister's provocative 'visit' to Hebron City is an irresponsible and offensive attempt to pander to the most extreme and racist elements of the settler movement.
The intolerable reality of segregation, racial discrimination, daily harassment, and oppression imposed on the Palestinian population in Hebron are maintained by the policies and racist illegal policies Netanyahu wants to perpetuate and promote against the Palestinian people across the occupied Palestinians Territory, including Jerusalem., said Ahrawi in a statement.
The Palestinian leadership condemns this inflammatory action and considers it a wilful declaration of hostility against the Palestinian people and their basic right to life in dignity and freedom as well as our inalienable right to self-determination, said the statement.
"We equally condemn the summoning of religious rhetoric to build and expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, while justifying the continued land theft as well as the oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people. This highly irresponsible conduct threatens to change the character of this political conflict and plunge it into the abyss of religious strife and conflict."
Hebron's Old City, including the Ibrahimi Mosque, is a World Heritage site under threat, as affirmed by UNESCO since 2017, she said.
"As such, the international community has added responsibility to protect this City from further pillaging and devastation and to compel Israel to end its draconian measures against the Palestinian population in Hebron and restore life and freedom to its besieged neighborhoods, which have been forcibly emptied of life and hope by the Israeli occupation. It is time to hold Israel accountable for its grave violations of international law and human dignity in Palestine," the statement concluded."
[Wafa, official Palestinian news agency, English edition, Sept. 4, 2019]
Headline: "Presidential spokesman: Israeli president and PM breaking into Hebron a serious escalation"
"Spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's breaking into the southern occupied West Bank of Hebron constitutes a serious escalation and a provocation of the feelings of Muslims.
He said that such a move comes in the context of continued attacks on Christian and Muslim holy sites, whether in occupied Jerusalem or Hebron.
Abu Rudeineh, in a press statement, warned of the dangerous repercussions of this Israeli incursion carried out by Netanyahu to win the votes of the extremist Israeli far-right parties, saying that it comes as part of the occupation's plans to Judaize the old town of Hebron, including al-Ibrahimi mosque.
"We hold the Israeli government responsible for the dangerous escalation which aims at dragging the area into a religious war that no one can bear its consequences," he said.
He stressed the need for the international community to intervene, particularly the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and put an end to the Israeli violations against Hebron and al-Ibrahimi mosque, and to take the necessary measures to stop them because it is on the World Heritage list."
[Wafa, official Palestinian news agency, English edition, Sept. 4, 2019]