Israel bans Muslims from entering Ibrahimi Mosque

9/16/2004 11:57:00 AM GMT

Israeli occupation forces banned Muslim worshippers from entering Al- Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank town of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

The occupying authorities denied Muslims access to the mosque in order to allow colonialist Jewish settlers to celebrate the Jewish new year at the Islamic holy site.

The Islamic Wakf authorities denounced the action.

It said that it is "a flagrant disregard for religious freedoms and the sanctity of the exclusively Islamic holy place."

The mosque will remain off-limit to Muslims during the celebrations for the Jewish New Year which starts Thursday.

Israel had partitioned the mosque since 1994.

It has also turned more than half of it to Jewish fanatic settlers.

The seizure followed the massacre of some 29 Arab worshipers by a Jewish extremist.

Last month, residents in the Mosque’s neighborhood said that Israeli soldiers- who had intensified their presence in Al-Khalil’s old quarters- had banned the civilians, including those living near to the Mosque, from approaching it.