Israeli occupation government closes Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, preventing Muslim worshippers from reaching it 

Palestinian Popular Committees slams Israeli decision to close the Ibrahimi Mosque 

Friday September 14, 2007 01:44 by IMEMC Staff saed at imemc dot org

The Palestinian Popular Committees slammed on Thursday an Israeli occupation government decision to close the Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, as the Muslims started the holy month of Ramadan.

The Committees called on the residents to challenge this decision and to flock to the mosque to hold prayers in it and in every mosque in the Old City of Hebron.

The Committees stated that the Israeli decision is part of the ongoing violations practiced by the Israeli occupation government against the Palestinian residents and their holy places.

Azmi Shuyoukhy, secretary-general of the Committees stated that Muslims should also try to reach the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem for prayers, especially during the month of Ramadan, as prayers at the Al-Aqsa are part of the teachings of Islam.

Shuyoukhy added that such decisions taken by Israel are harming the freedom of praying in every mosque in Palestine.

Furthermore, Shuyoukhy slammed violations carried by members of Hamas who stored weapons in a mosque in Nablus city, in the northern part of the West Bank, the Committees reported.

Shuyoukhy said that mosques are holy places, meant to worshipping God, and are not meant to be storage rooms for weapons and combat tools.

According to the statement of the Committees, the weapons were found in a number of mosques in Nablus. The uncovered weapons included military uniforms, arms, ammunition, and leaflets issued by Hamas.

The Committees reported that the Israeli occupation always violated the rights of the Palestinians, carried violations and attacks against their holy places, “and now the militias of Hamas are playing the same role”, according to the statement of the Committees.

 

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Note to Readers:

The Israeli settlements as well as the Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian occupied territories have been built illegally on confiscated Palestinian lands. These represent a major violation of international law, Geneva Conventions, and they obstruct reaching a peaceful resolution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Israeli occupation forces abduct and kidnap Palestinians from their homes and at checkpoints, on daily basis. Most media refer to these abductions and kidnappings as arrests, which is inaccurate and not true as the Israeli occupation government has no jurisdiction over Palestinian citizens inside their own territories.

Further, when Israeli occupation forces kill Palestinian civilians, particularly when the victims are women and children, this should be referred to as an act of terrorism, and perpetrators should be described as terrorists.

Since the end of the second intifadha in 2005, not a single Israeli civilian was killed by Palestinian resistance organizations. However, Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces, almost on daily basis.

Note to Journalists:

Any journalist who does not describe this as terrorism is biased, unfair, not objective, and a participant in terrorizing the Palestinian people, so the Israeli occupation of Palestine can continue endlessly.

Note to Translators:

The Arabic definite article, Al (or its variant, El) should be written with a hyphen separating it from the noun it is associated with, for example Al-Aqsa. If a hyphen is not used, as in Al Aqsa, it confuses non-Arabic readers. They may think that it is an abbreviation of the name Albert, as many Americans do.

The Arabic definite article Al (or El) should be written as such, whether it is Shamsiyah or Qamariyah in pronunciation, simply because we are dealing with the written form of the language, not the spoken one. Using the Shamsiyah so many forms in writing is inaccurate and confusing to non-Arabic readers, to say the least.

Only standard (fasih) pronunciation of Arabic names should be used. Non-standard ('ammi)  should be avoided avoided. Example: Names like Abu Sunainah, Abu Rudainah, and Abu Shebak are written by some translators in the non-standard forms of Abu Snainah, Abu Rdainah, and Abu Shbak.

The standard pronunciation of the vowel at the end of names is (a), not (e), particularly if it is followed by (h), like in the cases of Haniyah and Rudainah, not Haniyeh and Rudaineh.

The standard pronunciation of vowels in the following names is (ai), not (ei) as written by  some translators: Hussain, not Hussein and Hassanain, not Hassanein. This is the same long vowel pronounced in the English words "rain" and "brain."

 

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