The Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank is incredibly important to Muslims dating back over 2,000 years. Israel occupied the mosque in 1967 and converted half of it to an important Jewish shrine called the Cave of the Patriarchs. The site has been a source of tension in the area around the city of Hebron, and that is likely about to get even worse.
That’s because the Israeli government has announced they are stripping the Palestinian Hebron municipality of control over the mosque and handing it over to a settler council. Details about why are still emerging, but claims plans for “structural changes” to the ancient site, apparently to be facilitated by the Kiryat Arba settlement’s religious council.
The site is in the Old City part of Hebron, called al-Khalil by Palestinians. A substantial Israeli settlement has been established in the neighborhood, with an estimated 400 settlers and about 1,500 Israeli occupation forces manning checkpoints across the neighborhood to keep the settlers protected.

Ibrahimi Mosque | Image from Wikimedia under Creative Commons 2.0
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry referred to it as a flagrant violation of international law and urged UNESCO to intervene before it led to “grave repercussions.” This is the first change since 1994, when Israel changed control of the mosque to grant 63% to Jewish worshipers and only 37% to Muslims.
That change, enhancing Jewish control over the mosque site, came immediately following a 1994 massacre, when Jewish-American settler Baruch Goldstein entered the Muslim side in an Israeli military uniform with a gun and opened fire on worshipers, killing 29 and wounding 125 others.
The massacre was roundly condemned by Israelis at the time, though Goldstein has subsequently been lionized by some of the more violent settler groups, and indeed his tomb has itself become a site for pilgrimage by some settler on Purim, because that was the holiday during which the massacre took place.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the current Israeli National Security Minister, is one such massacre enthusiast, and appeared in a video praising Goldstein while calling for more massacres of Palestinians.
Israeli media appears generally supportive of the idea of taking the mosque and placing it under settler control, saying it will “enhance the experience for Jewish worshipers.” The leader of the B’TSALMO group praised the takeover, noting the site as being mentioned in the Book of Genesis, calling it the “Jewish people’s land registry.” He also suggesting it would allow them to put air conditioning within the building, adding “it’s time for sovereignty.”