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Israel expands settlement projects around Hebron’s mosque

Israel has approved a project near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in another step toward annexation.
The Muslim Ibrahimi Mosque, adjoining the Jewish Tomb of the Patriarchs, is seen closed during Friday prayer over concerns of the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma - RC2ONF9J9POW

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett issued an expropriation order May 12 for a portion of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, in the southern West Bank, part of a project to build an elevator to facilitate access to the mosque.

In response, head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs of the Palestinian Authority Hussein al-Sheikh tweeted that Bennett’s decision “to confiscate and annex parts of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron abolishes the Hebron protocol and puts an end to the agreement signed between the PLO and Israel, as well as constitutes a continuation of the annexation project in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

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