TEL AVIV – On Tuesday, Palestinians attempted to bomb Joseph’s Tomb, considered Judaism’s third holiest site, during a visit there earlier today by about 1,000 Jewish pilgrims.Army sappers detonated a cellphone-operated explosive device that was apparently planted by Palestinians at the entrance to the Joseph’s Tomb holy site in the city of Nablus early Tuesday morning, ahead of a visit by approximately 1,000 Jewish worshipers, the army said.There were no injuries or significant damage caused by the controlled blast, and the pilgrimage to the shrine continued as planned, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.The 1,000 or so worshipers were escorted to Joseph’s Tomb — believed to be the burial site of the biblical patriarch — by IDF soldiers, border guards and Israel Police officers, the army said. According to the military, as the group was leaving the area, local residents began to throw rocks at the troops and the buses, causing no injuries, but some light damage to the vehicles.
Joseph’s Tomb is believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph. It’s considered the third holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron.
Israel vacated Joseph’s Tomb in 2000 and the Palestinian Authority quickly took over the area. The Israel Defense Forces helps to arrange and protect several visits per month for Jewish pilgrims to visit the site.
This reporter previously documented how the Palestinians desecrated the site within less than an hour of Israel’s unilateral evacuation from the tomb: READ MORE
