The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) “endowments and religious affairs ministry” is warning of the gravity of the situation at the "Ibrahimi Mosque" (the Arabic name for the Cave of the Patriarchs -ed.) in Hevron, after tents were set up nearby in preparation for a visit to the city by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, along with President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, are scheduled to visit Hevron on Wednesday for a state ceremony to pay tribute to the 1929 riots in which Arabs murdered 67 Jews in the biblical city, decimating the ancient Jewish community of Hevron.
The statement by the PA “ministry” further said that Netanyahu's visit constitutes "a dangerous escalation and an insult to the feelings of Muslims and he is dragging the region into a religious war that will have far-reaching consequences that remind us of the visit of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (to the Temple Mount) in 2000 which ignited the Al-Aqsa Intifada."
The statement called on the Palestinian public to protect the Ibrahimi Mosque and thwart any plans that seize control of it and remove the Muslims.