The Fatah and Hamas terrorist groups have threatened Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with an escalation in terrorism. The threats were issued over Netanyahu’s plans to visit a Jewish holy site in Hevron.
Netanyahu is planning to visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Maarat Hamachpelah), the resting place of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs and one of Judaism’s most holy sites.
Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmi issued a statement reiterating Fatah’s traditional claim that the Tomb is a Muslim, not Jewish, holy place. The site “is solely a mosque,” he claimed.
Fatah similarly claims that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Kotel (Western Wall), and the tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem are exclusively Muslim holy places.
Qawasmi warned that if Netanyahu follows through with his planned visit, “we will defend our holy places.”
A Hamas spokesman similarly threatened violence if Netanyahu followed through with the “crime” of visiting the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Fatah is headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has previously termed Jewish visits to the Temple Mount a “desecration,” and has accused Israel posing a threat to the holy site.