Hawzah News Agency (Occupied Palestine) - The Israeli annexation is deep, dark and dim, spreading insecurity and instability across the West Bank. The Ibrahimi Mosque is just one of the symbols of it

In a provocative, irresponsible step and amid the world’s struggle with the coronavirus pandemic, the Israeli occupation authorities announced recently a new settlement plan to capture the lands surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied city of Al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit approved the confiscation of the Palestinian land belonging to the Islamic Waqf, a trust in charge of religious endowments in the area of the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Israel’s Ministry of Justice said in a statement that the decision was made in collaboration with the Civil Administration, a military-led body tasked with handling agricultural and building permits, roads, water and electricity issues in the West Bank.

Israeli authorities have justified the expropriation in order to build an elevator and ramp to allow people with disabilities, including tourists and Jewish worshipers, to access the holy site.

An old wholesale market on Shuhada Street owned by the Palestinian municipality of Al-Khalil is also set to be seized to make room for the controversial project.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a statement, “It is a cynical exploitation of the world’s focus on combating the COVID-19 pandemic and a reflection of Israel’s willful determination to speedily execute its aggressive plans to the service and benefit of the colonial settlement regime that is devouring Palestine.”

Israel has steadily taken control of the mosque to facilitate worship by the small group of illegal Jewish settlers who have moved into the center of the Old City at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants. Access to the mosque for Muslim worship is controlled tightly by the occupation authorities and, on many occasions, is banned altogether.

In past years, the call to prayer was prevented at the Muslim holy site, while Israeli authorities closed the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim worshipers for different Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Al-Khalil is one of the most populated Palestinian cities in the West Bank with around 200,000 Palestinians, including 30,000 in the Old City.

In an unusual and illegal measure, almost 800 Israeli settlers currently live in the heart of the city under heavy military guard.

The old city, including the Ibrahimi Mosque, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2017 and is considered a threatened site.

The Ibrahimi Mosque, believed to be the burial place of the Prophet Ibrahim, is sacred to both Muslims and Jews and has been the site of oft-violent tensions for decades.