Ali Zidan Abu Zuhri, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and head of the National Committee for Tangible and Intangible Heritage, announced that Palestine has called on UNESCO to urgently intervene to protect the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil, in the occupied West Bank, from systematic Israeli violations targeting its cultural and religious heritage.

Abu Zuhri explained that the appeal comes “in response to an Israeli settler conference held in the courtyards of the Ibrahimi Mosque with the participation of Israeli officials.”

He urged UNESCO and the international community to take immediate steps to safeguard the mosque and other Islamic and Christian holy sites, stressing the importance of imposing deterrent measures against the Israeli “colonial apparatus.”

Abu Zuhri described the event as “a blatant assault on the cultural and religious heritage of the Palestinian people and an affront to the feelings of millions of Muslims worldwide.”

He added that the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Register, is facing a deliberate Judaization campaign aimed at erasing its Palestinian identity.

Abu Zuhri held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of these violations, warning against turning the war into an open religious confrontation. He emphasized that Palestinian heritage, both tangible and intangible, is a fundamental part of global human identity, and urged serious international protection to halt Israeli attempts to distort the collective memory of the Palestinian people.

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In July, Israeli authorities transferred administrative control over the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil from the Palestinian-run municipality to a religious council in the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement, in what Israeli media called an “unprecedented” shift in the status quo.

According to a report by Israel Hayom, the Israeli Civil Administration, an arm of the occupation's military governance, reassigned authority over the historic site to the settler council adjacent to the mosque, which would facilitate alterations to the mosque's layout, including roof construction and control over areas used by Israeli settlers.

The Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, is located in the Old City of al-Khalil, an area under full control of the Israeli occupation, where approximately 400 settlers live guarded by more than 1,500 Israeli occupation forces. Dozens of military checkpoints fragment Palestinian life around the site. 

This latest move would mark the first major administrative shift at the mosque since the occupation's decision in 1994 to partition the site, which granted 63% access to Jewish settlers and 37% to Muslim worshippers, following the massacre carried out by extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians during Fajr prayer.

Though the decision has not yet been officially implemented, Israel Hayom described it as “a great development for the settlement enterprise” and a step toward broader structural and religious changes at the mosque. These changes reportedly include the re-roofing of the site and expansions in areas used primarily by settlers, such as "Jacob’s Courtyard".

At the time, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong condemnation, calling the decision a blatant violation of international law and UN resolutions. The Ministry warned that the move was a calculated step toward Judaizing the mosque and erasing its Islamic identity.

Wider context

In 2017, UNESCO designated the Old City of al-Khalil and the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank as a Palestinian World Heritage Site, despite objections from “Israel.” At the time, the agency’s committee also classified the site as “in danger.”

The Ibrahimi Mosque, revered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews as the burial place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is regarded as the second-holiest site in Judaism and the fourth in Islam. 

At the time, Palestinian diplomats had urged UNESCO to accelerate the inscription of al-Khalil’s Old City onto the World Heritage in Danger list, citing what they described as “alarming” Israeli violations, including vandalism, property damage, and other actions undermining the site’s authenticity and integrity. The inscription, they argued, would subject the site to international conservation standards and require UNESCO to conduct annual reviews of its status.

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