One Israeli worshiper was killed and four were wounded in Nablus early Sunday morning after their vehicle was shot at by a Palestinian Authority policeman as the group was exiting the city from prayer services held at Joseph's Tomb. Magen David Adom said one person was in serious condition, one in moderate condition and two others in light condition.
The Palestinian police officer who opened fire told investigators in the Palestinian security forces that he identified "suspicious" individuals and fired at them, the IDF said. The shooting took place in an area of Palestinian Authority security jurisdiction. The PA policeman was being interrogated by Palestinian security officers. Several hours after the incident, dozens of Palestinians rioted near Joseph's Tomb and set tires on fire, Israel Radio reported. Settlers claimed that Palestinians vandalized the holy site in the wake of the attack.
...The death of a 25-year-old male was pronounced at the scene. The victim was identified as Ben Yosef Livnat, the nephew of Minister of Culture and Sports Limor Livnat (Likud). Livnat was married, a father of four and was a resident of Jerusalem.
JoeSettler at The Muqata fills in details:
Ever since Israel foolishly gave away Joseph's tomb to the Palestinians (which led to the abandonment of an Israeli soldier (Madhat Yusef) at the site who bled to death, and the destruction of this Holy site by the Palestinians), Breslev Hassidim and others have a made a point of regularly returning to the Jewish holy site to ensure that the Kever isn't abandoned completely.Ma'an throws in a baldfaced lie, with no qualification whatsoever:
Sometimes the IDF coordinates visits in the middle of the night and brings in busloads of people (unless they think it is too dangerous), but more often Breslev Hassidim sneak in and out in the middle of the night.
Early this morning (5:40AM), after finishing their prayers a carload of Breslev Hassidim were attacked by Palestinian policemen.
Originally 3 carloads of Jews arrived at the tomb to pray, but PA policemen waiting there shot in the air and 2 of the cars immediately left. The third carload of Breslevers stayed to pray.
After the prayers, when the Hassidim were driving out, the Palestinian policemen (trained and funded by the US) drove their PA police jeep up to the car with the Hassidim in it and opened fire.
One Israeli, Ben-Yosef Livnat (age 30) was killed and 3 more injured. Livnat is the nephew of Minister Limor Livnat.
Nablus/Shechem Governor Jibril al-Bakri admits his policemen did the attack, calling it a "security incident" not a "terrorist attack". He also confirms the witness report that they first shot in the air when they saw the Breslev Hassidim who arrive there every week.
9:42 AM Arabs are trying to burn down Kever Yosef right now. (5 Molotov cocktails thrown at Beit Yonatan in Jerusalem Old City this morning).
Palestinian security officials told Ma’an that dozens of armed ultra-Orthodox settlers entered the Joseph’s Tomb site without coordinating with the Palestinian side and thus they were not escorted by Israeli forces.Breslov chassidim with guns? Oh, please.
The Palestinian officers told them they were not allowed to be there without coordination, but they did not obey the orders. Instead, they pulled out their own guns and pointed them toward Palestinian officers.
YNet adds:
One of the Breslovers who was in the second car in the convoy and was lightly wounded told Ynet: "We arrived at the tomb like on many occasions in the past. Near the tomb we saw a spikes chain. One of the guys jumped out of the car and moved it aside.
"At this point a uniformed Palestinian police officer with a Kalashnikov in a jeep woke his colleagues up and they started firing into the air…I was in the front seat. We started driving fast in the direction of the tomb; we got out of the vehicles and kissed the tomb.
"When we got back to the vehicles the police shot at the vehicles, they were screaming 'Allahu Akbar'. It was crazy, they were shooting to kill. I screamed at the driver to drive out of there quickly. When we got to Har Bracha we attended to the wounded."
From the Oslo Accords 1995 Interim Agreement, Appendix III, Annex 1, Article 32:
2. Both sides shall respect and protect the listed below religious rights of Jews, Christians, Moslems and Samaritans:If Israel withdraws from Hebron and Bethlehem, then Jews wishing to visit their holiest places would be placing their lives into their own hands every single time. And in order to soothe the sensibilities of Muslims who of course would be incensed at the idea of Jews in their midst, those visits would also have to take place in the middle of the night in armored buses - a far cry from "free access."
a. protection of the Holy Sites;
b. free access to the Holy Sites; and
c. freedom of worship and practice.
For some reason, the rights of Jews to worship at their holy places is not worth much to the world. Neither is Palestinian violations of signed agreements.