Israel strips Hebron municipality of authority over Ibrahimi Mosque

Israel has withdrawn certain administrative powers over the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Palestinian-run Hebron Municipality, transferring them to the religious council of the Israeli Kiryat Arba settlement, an Israeli newspaper reported on Tuesday. 

According to Israel Hayom daily, this move represents a “historic and unprecedented step” that changes the status quo at what it referred to as the Cave of the Patriarchs (Ibrahimi Mosque).

The paper said that “the Israeli Civil Administration has stripped the Palestinian Hebron Municipality of certain responsibilities and handed them to the Israeli religious council of Kiryat Arba-Hebron,” adjacent to Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

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While the report did not specify the nature of the transferred powers, it stated that the move aims to facilitate “structural changes at the site.”

This marks the first major shift at the Ibrahimi Mosque since the so-called “Shamgar Committee” recommendations in 1994, Israel Hayom added.

That committee then recommended dividing the site, allocating 63 per cent for Jewish worship and 37 per cent for Muslim worship.

The division came after Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein carried out a massacre during dawn prayers at the mosque, killing 29 Palestinians.

The paper also said that the Israeli Civil Administration has long been pushing for significant changes at the holy site.

The Ibrahimi Mosque is located in Hebron’s Old City in an area under full Israeli control.  

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