Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced some days ago that the government intended to promote different places of national heritage. The cabinet decision includes the Hebron and Bethlehem sites in the list of national, historical, religious and cultural sites that would be marked for preservation and restoration. These include the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem. In response to this, tensions arose in Hebron amongst the Arabs and much violence against Jews occured. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned of a “religious war” over Israel’s decision to place the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb on its heritage sites list. (Both these sites are definitely Jewish and mentioned in the Bible.)
President Shimon Peres said that Hamas is trying to create an artificial conflict, he attempted to calm tensions on Wednesday, a day after speaking to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry, at Jerusalem’s Beit Hanassi. Peres stressed that Israel wasn’t interested in “monopolizing” the sites and that it did not need “artificial conflicts” sparked by a “misunderstanding.”He said that Israel respects “every holy place,” emphasizing that while it wanted to educate Jews that the sites are holy to them, this certainly did not mean they would be off limits to Muslims. “We are going to tell our children that it is a holy place for the Jewish people,” he said. “It doesn’t mean Muslims can’t pray there.” Responding to recent Palestinian criticisms of Israel’s move to add West Bank sites to the list for national preservation, Peres said that Hamas is trying to create an artificial conflict. In the meanwhile violence continues on a lesser scale, but has also moved to some extent to Jerusalem .
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