[johnleeknoefler]

Four US Jews Arrested at Joseph's Tomb

~Gavriel Queenann

Four Jewish pilgrims from the United States were arrested before dawn on Friday in Shechem as they sought to pray at Joseph's Tomb.

The four, associated with the Bratslav Hassidic group were confronted at gunpoint by Palestinian Authority police and taken into custody before reaching the grave site.

They were handed over to Israeli police and taken to the Ariel police station.

"Americans are allowed to stay in Nablus and their summary arrest is a violation of international law," a friend of the four detainees said.

David Ha'ivri of the Shomron Liaison Office who has been directly involved in efforts to allow access for Jews to Joseph's tomb also decried the arrest.



"This arrest show the irony of the false claims that Israel is apartheid. While Arabs have free access to all areas in Israel, Jewish people are denied access to holy places that are in PA areas administrated by the PLO," Ha'Ivri said.



"It is outrageous that this discrimination and harassment is going on while the PA is supported through funding of the American and EU governments. Joseph's tomb must be reopened for full free access for all Jewish people regardless to their citizenship," he added.

Israel ceded security and administrative control of Shechem to the Palestinian Authority on 2 October 2000 under the auspices of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Upon handing the site over to the PA it was pillaged and extensively vandalized by local Arabs.

The next morning the bullet-riddled body of Rabbi Hillel Lieberman, a US citizen who immigrated to Israel and resided in Elon Moreh, was found on the outskirts of Shechem, where he had gone to survery the damage done to the tomb

After these events Barak's government restricted Israeli access to the site.

Israelis did not return to Joseph's Tomb until after Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, after which Israelis were allowed access to the site only with an IDF escort.

However, security coordination between IDF and PA forces has been sporadic and the size and frequency of Israeli visits has been limited.

Under this situation, many frustrated Bratslav Hassidim have sought to covertly visit Joseph's Tomb under the cover of darkness.

Vandalism by local Arabs is routinely reported by Jewish worshipers who reach the site. In late 2009, a group of Jewish worshipers found the headstone smashed and swastikas painted on the walls, as well as boot prints on the grave itself.

Reaching the gravesite without an IDF escort has proved a dangerous undertaking for Jews.

On 24 April 2011, Israeli Ben Yosef Livnat was gunned down in cold blood by a PA security officer in the pre-dawn hours as he sought to reach the tomb. Four of his companions were wounded.

The PA inquiry into the incident found that the men who shot at Livnat acted in "breach of the protocol" for opening fire.

However, the commander of the IDF’s Samaria Brigade said in closed conversations that Livnat was murdered and that the PA police officer who opened fire intended to kill Jews.

Livnat, the son of US immigrants to Israel and nephew of Minister Limor Livnat, was declared a victim of terror by current defense minister Ehud Barak.
Josephs' Tomb as it was before the Muslims trashed it.

Palestian Authority Police Kill Rabbi Praying at Josephs' Tomb:Muslim youth then vandalize the tomb in celebration.
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This photo taken after the Rabbi was shot dead there.
Palestinian youth burn tyres at the entrance to the shrine of Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus. A Palestinian policeman fired on a group of Israelis near the shrine, killing one and injuring four, according to the Israeli army. (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

Joseph's Tomb is a shrine near the city of Nablus in the West Bank. It is traditionally considered by some religious branches to be the burial place of the Biblical patriarch Joseph, and is located in the Samaritan city of Shechem.
Israel first gained control of the tomb in 1967, following the Six-Day War and a small settlement grew inside the site compound.
In the mid-1980s a Jewish yeshiva, Od Yosef Chai, was built at the site along with an Israeli Defence Forces military outpost.
In 1995, the settlement was transferred to Palestinian National Authority jurisdiction however Israeli troops continued to control the site to ensure free access to students and pilgrims per the Oslo accords. During the Western Wall Tunnel riots in 1996, the tomb was attacked and six Israeli soldiers were killed.
Near the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in October 2000, the shrine became a target of armed militant demonstrators. Seventeen Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in fighting around the tomb. On October 7, 2000 the Israeli army withdrew from the site leaving it in the hands of the Palestinians. Soon afterward, the abandoned tomb and army post were ransacked (the outpost and yeshiva were destroyed in the attack); the Palestinian police allegedly allowed the ransacking to go ahead without intervention.
Nablus mayor Ghassan Shakaa promised to repair the site to its pre-1967 state, and repairs were carried out; however, workers painted the exterior of the shrine's dome green (the color of Islam), fuelling speculation that the Palestinians intended to build a mosque on the site. After some world outcry, the dome was repainted a neutral colour.
Since 2000, Israelis are no longer allowed to visit the site, although some pilgrims are at times allowed to enter under armed escort. Despite the ban some Breslov hasidim still visit the site under the cover of darkness evading army and police checkpoints. There had been an incident where some of these pilgrims were attacked and wounded.
With this ban and the fears that Palestinian authorities are not sufficiently protecting Jewish and Christian religious sites the shrine has become the source of ongoing frustration and anger amongst Jews.
On February 23, 2003 the carved stone covering the grave was destroyed.
On May, 2007, the Breslov hasidim visited the site for the first time in two years. A gunman attacked his gathering, and Israeli gunmen returned fire.
In 2007, it was discovered that the tomb had been vandalised, and filled with burning garbage.

In February 2008, vandals set burning tires inside the tomb. As a response, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared the tomb a Muslim holy site, and downplayed reports of joint Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on restoring the tomb.

This is how the story played out in the western press...

Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli soldiers at Joseph's Tomb in the occupied West Bank and Israeli settlers stoned Palestinian vehicles after an Israeli civilian was shot dead and four others wounded.

The Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers were shot by a Palestinian policeman as they went to the holy site without permission.

The shrine, near Nablus in Palestinian controlled territory, can only be visited with an Israeli military escort.

Palestinian rioters set fire and break facilities in Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus April 24, 2011.

#3 April 24, 2011 at 6:04 pm
save us commented:

obama’s silence is deafening
and these are the people the USA taxpayer trains and funds and obama wants to give control them over half of israel

Palestinians burn furnishings in the tomb and attempt to smash covering stone to tomb.

Muslims set surrounding buildings on fire.


The Kever Stone is discovered completely smashed when Jewish people are again allowed to return

Over 150 Visit Joseph's Tomb
05:17 Jul. 01, '03 / 1 Tammuz 5763

(IsraelNN.com) Under IDF guard, over 150 persons during the night visited Joseph's Tomb in Shechem to observe the annual memorial day of his death.

Palestinian Authority Police cheerfully repaired the damage inflicted by the muslim youths and covered the tomb with a protective concrete slab. Then just as cheerfully they imprinted their boots into the fresh concrete and happily allowed Jewish people to return and inspect the fresh repairs after the concrete had hardened.

[johnleeknoefler]

A Jew returns to Kevar Yosef (Josephs' Tomb) to pray.
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During the service the Muslims attack, Soldiers fire back and the praying continues with the lighting of candles for the sixth day of Hannukah and the blowing of the Shofar.

[kayo brizzle]

That's horrible.

[Brainplague]

This Arab-Israeli holy war/blood feud will never end until every last one of them are dead.

Will we never learn tolerance? Seriously, who gives a shit what anyone else believes? Why can't we just leave people to their own beliefs and leave it at that?

The whole situation is absolutely ridiculous and disgusts me.