The IDF barred Knesset Members and rabbonim from entering Kever Yosef in Shechem Sunday evening, on the yahrtzeit of Yosef Hatzaddik. Police arrested more than 40 people who tried to enter without permits.
The military and police allowed only 12 buses to enter the holy site after having originally allowed 20 busloads to enter. The last-minute restrictions on the number of participants, and the ban on public figures, caused Samaria (Shomron) Regional Council Chairman Gershon Mesika and leading Zionist rabbi Rav Elyakim Levanon to boycott the event.
Kever Yosef has been the focal point of tension for more than a decade. The Oslo Accords, signed by the Palestinian Authority, guaranteed the right of Jews to pray at the site, but Israel surrendered its sovereignty at Kever Yosef following the deadly terrorist attack by Palestinian Authority terrorists in 2000.
Dozens of attempts by national religious figures to daven at Kever Yosef eventually resulted in IDF escorts for prayers there, but dozens of people have tried to challenge the need for special permission to daven.
Last April, Palestinian Authority soldiers killed Ben Yosef Livnat Hy”d as he was returning from davening at Kever Yosef.
Sunday’s evening’s tefillos was virtually ignored by Israel’s mainstream media.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Arutz Sheva/Matzav.com Newscenter}
