Palestinian Authority police officers shot at a group of Breslov Hassidim as they were trying to enter Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem overnight Monday.
PA officials told AFP that the policemen opened fire after shouting warnings at the small group of worshippers.
A report on the Israeli websiteHakol Hayehudi said one of the worshippers was lightly wounded when a PA officer chased a group of Breslov Hassidim and then opened fire at them. The worshippers fled the scene, according to the report.
Israeli public radio said the group entered the site without the required coordination with the Israeli military.
Currently, Jews are allowed to visit the Tomb, which is in PA-controlled Shechem, only by special permit of the IDF. Groups that attempt to pray there without such permits are often arrested by the army.
According to the Oslo Accords, Israelis are supposed to have free access to the site, but Arab rioters have several times destroyed the Tomb, and the IDF has barred Jews from going there because of fear of Arab violence.
Last April, Palestinian Authority soldiers killed yeshiva student Ben Yosef Livnat as he was returning from prayers at Joseph’s Tomb.
The Shechem Core Group reacted to the wounding of the worshipper overnight Monday and called for a full-time Jewish presence in Shechem. The group said in a statement that Jews should not have to settle for one entrance a month.
The statement concluded with a call for the IDF "to protect [the] Jews from 'Palestinian terrorists.'"