Israel Tightens Control on Hebron Mosque, Calls it 'Administration'
The New Arab reports on Israel's latest administrative maneuver in Hebron, framing it as a 'transfer of technical and administrative' oversight. What they gloss over is that this 'administration' involves transferring a significant Muslim holy site, built in the 12th century, to the control of settlers in occupied territory. This isn't 'administration'; it's blatant appropriation, continuing a
pattern of Israeli authorities encroaching on Palestinian religious and cultural sites in Hebron, often justified as 'security' measures following the 1994 Hebron massacre by an Israeli-American settler. One might wonder if any other nation would consider handing over a sacred place of worship in occupied territory to a settler-led 'civil administration' as a mere 'technical transfer.' This move
further solidifies Israel's control over the Old City of Hebron, already partitioned since the 1997 Hebron Protocol, leaving 20% of the city inhabited by a few hundred settlers under heavy military protection, disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians. And the world watches, politely calling it 'tightened control.'