A library photo for Ibrahimi mosque

By Sueliman Besharat, Yasser el-Banna, IOL Correspondents

GAZA CITY, November 10 (IslamOnline.net) – Now that more than nine years have elapsed since the massacre of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi, when a Jewish terrorist rained worshippers with bullets, Palestinians scholars urged Muslims Sunday, November 9, to stand up firmly to Israeli policies aimed at turning the holy mosque into a Jewish synagogue and forcing Palestinians to leave their homes in the old town of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Sheikh Hamid Al-Bitawi, head of Palestine's Scholars League, said Israel wants Palestinians to give up their inalienable rights in this piece of sacred land.

"The incessant and flagrant Israeli aggressions on Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi are planned to Judaize the two holy mosques and turn them to synagogues," Bitawi told IslamOnline.net.

He appealed to Muslims and the youth of the time-honored town to scupper the "malicious Israeli plans" and stick close to their motherland.

Sheikh Taysir Al-Tamimi, the chief justice and imam of Al-Ibrahimi Mosque, said Israel tries to force more than 40,000 Palestinians to leave their homes in Al-Khalil, while Israeli bulldozers are destroying many of Palestinian houses in the ancient Tal Al-Ramid district "to pave the way for the apartheid wall and divide the town."

"Worshippers are subject to daily humiliation and assaults by Israeli occupation forces," Tamimi told IOL.

He further said Israelis hurl incinerators on the worshippers and try to set the mosques' pulpits aflame, take their dogs into the sacred plazas and prevent muezzins (callers for prayer) from voicing the Adhan (the call to prayer).

Tamimi also said that Israeli troops force Palestinian women to be frisked inside closed doors.

"Add to that, they chased after worshippers using bullets and teargas canisters after Al-Asr (the afternoon) prayer last Friday (November 7) under the pretext of the curfew imposed on the town."

The Israeli aggression, he added, left several worshippers wounded.

Appeal

He urged Arab states, the international community, the United Nations and human rights advocates to stop the Judaization of Al-Khalil and Al-Ibrahimi Mosque.

"The serious Israeli violations would increase tensions and beef up revenge desire," he warned.

Munzer Al-Dana, a resident of the Al-Khalil, said it is hard now reaching Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi, since one should go through a long way of inspections, electronic gates and checkpoints, adding that dozens of Palestinians have already left their homes.

AL-Khalil commemorated on February 25 the ninth anniversary of the massacre.

The terrorist Baruch Goldstein, a well-known Kach leader, entered the Mosque and emptied two clips of a machinegun into Muslim worshippers during the dawn prayer, killing at least 50 people and injured 200 others.

Many of the dead and injured were from the same families; they were shot as their heads were bent in prayer.

Israeli occupation soldiers used tear gas and guarded the entrance of the mosque after they heard gunfire, which contributed to the difficulty of evacuating the dead and injured.

Some eyewitnesses reported that soldiers took part in the shooting afterward.

Goldstein was said to have died inside the mosque, but it is not clear if he killed himself or was killed in the melee after opening fire.

Following the massacre, an Israeli committee split the mosque into two Muslim and Jewish divisions, piling up sandbags and setting up many of iron gates.