The Palestinian Cabinet moved its weekly meeting to Hebron yesterday in a symbolic act against Israel’s addition of a contested shrine in the volatile West Bank city to its list of national heritage sites.
Israel’s decision last week drew widespread international criticism and heightened Palestinian suspicions of Israel at a time when the US is trying to restart peace talks.
Israelis and Palestinians have clashed frequently in the past over the two shrines added to the heritage list, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas portrayed Israel’s move as an “attack on the holy places,” and his Islamic militant Hamas rivals in Gaza called for a new uprising.
Over the past week, Palestinian stone-throwers have clashed almost daily with Israeli troops in Hebron, a divided city where 500 Jewish settlers live amid 170,000 Palestinians.
The Cabinet session comes a day after Israeli police forces dispersed masked Palestinian rioters at Jerusalem’s most contentious holy site. Early yesterday, gunmen opened fire at an Israeli security vehicle in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, lightly injuring a security guard, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to calm the recent tensions, saying that Israel’s plan was to protect the holy sites and had no intention of infringing on Muslim freedom of worship. A Netanyahu aide said the list is not meant to delineate future borders, and that it was premature to talk about concrete renovation plans.
However, Palestinians fear the decision is another sign that Netanyahu wants to hang on to significant parts of the West Bank, a territory they want for a future Palestinian state, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem.
By meeting in Hebron, “the Cabinet is trying to show its concern and to alert the international community to the grave situation affecting the holy sites,” Palestinian Cabinet spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.
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