| Joseph's Tomb |
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Joseph’s Tomb is a shrine near the city of ish texts, Joseph's body was taken from Egypt during the Exodus and later reinterred in Shechem ( Joshua 24:32 ). DESTRUCTION OF THE TOMB Following the 1967 War , Israel regained access to the site and a small Jewish Seminary was built there in the 1980s . The site was also used as a Military outpost, and a number of soldiers were stationed there to protect the seminary students and the site itself. Shechem was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1995 , but the Israelis retained control over the site since the Oslo accords granted it free Israeli access. When violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinian s began in the West Bank in October 2000 , six Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in fighting around the tomb. The Israeli army subsequently agreed to withdraw on October 7 and turn over control of the site to the Palestinian police, who were supposed to guard it. Instead, they stood by as a mob ransacked the site, burned holy books and destroyed reading stands; the mob also burned down the army outpost. On that same day, a United States -born rabbi and settler from Elon Moreh named Hillel Lieberman who taught at the seminary, was found murdered outside Nablus. The Mayor of Nablus, Ghassan Shakaa , said that the site would be repaired. Workers were seen fixing the damage, however, they were also painting the top of the dome green - the color of Islam . Workers say that they want to return the shrine to its former appearance before 1967, but news reports indicated the Palestinians were planning to build a Mosque on the spot. For Israelis, the destruction of a Jewish shrine raised serious doubts as to whether the Palestinian Authority would protect religious sites belonging to Jews and Christians and guarantee access to them. Israel guarantees access to all holy places under their control, according to a 1967 law. Only in the last couple of years, due to very high demand, has the Israeli Army infrequently allowed pilgrims to visit the site under armoured army escort. Otherwise, many Breslov Hasidim detour around army roadblocks to enter the site in the middle of the night. DESTRUCTION OF THE GRAVE COVERING In the weeks prior to February 23 , 2003 (when the incident was first reported), Palestinians returned to the site and destroyed the carved stone covering the grave. The continued desecration of the site by Palestinians, and Israel's banning of Jews from the site is a source of ongoing frustration and increasing anger amongst Jews. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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