Renovations have started in the Nablus shrine known as Joseph's Tomb days after it was vandalized by Palestinian youths who also set fire to some of its chambers.
Renovation teams from the Samaria Regional Council, protected by troops, entered the compound Wednesday morning to begin work.
This marks the first time Israeli workers entered the shrine in broad daylight since the place was abandoned in 2000 on the orders of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
According to the Israeli team present at the shrine, large parts of the compound were burnt and damage was done to the upper section of the tomb, where stones were deliberately broken, as were the grave’s tombstone and the antique chandelier adorning the compound.
The team was accompanied by the director of the Holy Places of the Samaria Regional Council Nathaniel Snir, while security was provided by the IDF’s West Bank Brigade under the command of Brigadier General, Col. Roi Zweig.
The delicate renovation operation saw the teams rebuild the shattered tombstone smashed and destroyed by the Palestinian rioters, as well as remove the large amounts of debris and rubble littering the compound.
In addition, the team is also repainting the walls of the tomb that were blackened by the fire, fixing the shattered windows as well as the shrine’s vandalized plumbing system.
"The barbaric rioters from the Palestinian Authority knew very well why they were burning and destroying the tomb of Joseph the righteous ,” said the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan.
“They know that as long as the people of Israel from within and abroad - led by the settlement in [the West Bank] continue to visit its holy places and national heritage sites, they can not defeat us.”
“We arrived here early in the morning, and we are working to return Joseph the Tzaddik his honor, and to return to the people of Israel their besmirched honor,” added Dagan.
At least one Palestinian was killed and some 17 others injured in clashes that erupted outside the shrine as the settlers were working inside,
First published: 09:08, 04.13.22