11 May 2018•Update: 11 May 2018
RAMALLAH, Palestine
Thousands of extremist Jewish settlers backed by Israeli army forces stormed a local shrine near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus at dawn Friday.
“After arriving in hundreds of buses, about 6,000 Jewish settlers forced their way into the site, where they performed Talmudic rituals,” Ahmed Shamekh, an official at the nearby Balata Palestinian refugee camp, told Anadolu Agency.
According to Shamekh, the settlers -- who were accompanied by hundreds of Israeli soldiers and dozens of military vehicles -- included Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of the right-wing Jewish Home Party.
The religious site, which Jews refer to as “Joseph's Tomb”, has long been a flashpoint for violence.
Jews believe it to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph. Muslims, however, challenge this assertion, saying an Islamic cleric -- Sheikh Yussef Dawiqat -- was buried at the site two centuries ago.
Sheikh banned
In a related development, the Israeli authorities on Friday banned Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, head of Jerusalem’s Supreme Muslim Council, from entering the occupied West Bank.
According to the sheikh’s son, Ammar, Sabri was summoned to police headquarters in Jerusalem early this morning.
“The Israeli authorities handed him a court order banning him from entering the West Bank for four months for ‘suspected links with terrorist organizations that harm Israel's security’,” Ammar said.
Last month, the Israeli authorities slapped Sabri with a one-month travel ban.
The decision, which was signed by Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, came into force on May 1.
