Arafat's Fatah terrorists wanted to destroy another Jewish holy site

The Zionist Organization of America News Release, November 14, 2001

NEW YORK - The capture of three of Yasir Arafat's Fatah terrorists who were planning to blow up a major Jewish holy site, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, is just the latest in a series of Palestinian Arab attempts to destroy or desecrate Jewish religious sites.

The Fatah terrorists who were captured on November 13, 2001, were planning to set off a car-bomb at the Cave of the Patriarchs, burial site of the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah.
The Fatah terrorists admitted they were planning to use a car belonging to United Nations personnel who have been stationed in the city.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "Yasir Arafat and his Palestinian Authority have demonstrated, once again, that they cannot be trusted to respect the sanctity of Jewish religious sites -- as proven by their destruction of the Tomb of Joseph last year, and their constant attacks on the Tomb of Rachel."
The ZOA president added: "Imagine the international outcry if Jews were caught planning to blow up an Islamic religious site. Yet the world is silent as the Palestinian Arabs seek to destroy Jewish holy sites. We urge the Bush administration to condemn Palestinian Arab attacks on Jewish holy sites, and place Arafat's Fatah on the official U.S. list of terrorist groups."

Although attacks on holy sites are in violation of UNESCO's 'Convention and Protocol for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict,' neither UNESCO or any other United Nations agency have ever spoken out against Palestinian Arab attacks on Jewish holy sites, such as:

* Destroying the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem (Nablus).

* Burning the ancient Shalom al-Yisrael synagogue in Jericho.

* Rock-throwing attacks against Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

* Constant Arab shooting attacks and firebomb attacks against the Tomb of Rachel, in Bethlehem.

* Attempts to destroy the Tomb of Joshua.

* The wave of violent attacks on synagogues throughout Israel on Yom Kippur last year.

* Repeated attacks on the ancient Jewish cemetery on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives

* Repeated attacks on the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron.

* Desecration of the grave site of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Yehuda Ben-Baba, near the Israeli town of Shfaram.

* The Arafat-appointed Mufti (chief Islamic religious authority) of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, issued a fatwa (a Muslim legal decree) declaring that the Western Wall is "part of the Haram el Sharif [the Al Aqsa Mosque compound] and exclusively Muslim."
The fatwa "was issued after it was discovered some stones in the Wall have become loose and in need of repair. The edict declared that Jews are forbidden to make any repairs to the Haram (known to Jews as the Temple Mount). If the Wall is part of the Haram, they cannot be allowed to repair it or touch it." (Israeli daily Ha'aretz, February 21, 2001)

* PA Minister of Religious Affairs Hassan Tahbub said that when the PA gains control of the Cave of the Patriarchs, Jews will not be allowed to pray there, since "the Koran doesn't allow non-Muslims to pray in a mosque." (Jerusalem Report, Jan. 25, 1996).
The PA-appointed mayor of Hebron, Mustafa Natshe, said "We will agree to permit Jews to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs. But we will not let them pray there." (Ha'aretz, June 24, 1996)
The PA-appointed deputy mayor of Hebron, Kamal Dweik, said the Cave of the Patriarchs "is a mosque, not a synagogue. For Jews to pray in a mosque would mean that it is changed into a synagogue. And we refuse this thing." (IMRA, June 22, 1999)
PA official Hisham Abdel Raziq said "The Jews can pray in the plaza outside the mosque," but not in the Cave of the Patriarchs itself. (IMRA, July 2, 1997)