Israel just handed ownership of a historic mosque in Hebron to Jewish settlers. Here’s what that means.
Palestinians at Ibrahimi Mosque on the anniversary of the birth of the prophet Muhammad, Hebron, 16 February 2011
Qassam Muaddi writes in Mondoweiss on 30 July 2025 :
In the latest Israeli move to impose its annexation of the West Bank, the Israeli army’s central command transferred the administrative authorities over the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron from the Palestinian city’s municipality to the Religious Council of the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba’ last week.
Until the latest Israeli decision, the Ibrahimi mosque was run by the Hebron municipality for the maintenance of infrastructure as a Palestinian historical site, and by the Palestinian religious endowments department, or the Awqaf, for the religious staff and the administration of the Mosque. The Awqaf department is part of the Palestinian Authority, and it is the institution that safeguards the religious character of holy sites and their associated religious rights.
When the Awqaf’s authority is revoked over any location, it is no longer considered a Palestinian religious site — and could be given over to another usage, like a tourist attraction. But when the Awqaf’s authority is revoked by Israeli authorities, it is part of a project to Judaize, and therefore Israelize, the site. In other words, Israel seeks to erase the Palestinian character of the site and limit or completely block Palestinians’ access to it.
This latest Israeli measure to wrest the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Awqaf essentially exposes the Mosque to Israeli seizure, because it removes the religious character of the site’s ownership, which has historically been the most important layer of protection against colonial confiscation. This is why the main religious sites in the Old Cities of Hebron and Jerusalem are among the few remaining public spaces where Palestinians can gather and collectively express themselves through religious practice.
Palestinian worshipers visit the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on February 25, 2014. On February 25, 1994, Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein used an assault rifle to gun down worshippers in the Ibrahimi Mosque — revered by Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs — in the heart of Hebron, before he was beaten to death by those who escaped his hail of bullets. Photo by Issam Rimawi
Instrumentalizing religion for colonization
Far from a strictly religious matter, changing the legal authority governing these sites from the Islamic Waqf to the Kiryat Arba’ Religious Council is tantamount to announcing their seizure by Israel. It is an instrumentalization of religion to advance settler control and diminish Palestinians’ presence in key locations.