TEL AVIV – About 1,000 Jews prayed at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus on Monday night for Tu B’Av, the Jewish holiday of love, under heavy IDF guard.
According to Palestinian media sources, clashes erupted at the tomb with Palestinian rioters hurling rocks at Israeli troops guarding the Jewish visitors, forcing the IDF to deploy crowd-control measures. The IDF spokesperson’s unit, however, said no security incidents occurred during the visit.
The book of Joshua states that Joseph was buried outside of the city of Shechem, or Nablus. As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, access to Joseph’s Tomb was supposed to be given to Jews and Christians. However, after a series of attacks against Jewish pilgrims at the holy site by gunmen affiliated with then-Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat’s militias, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered a unilateral Israeli retreat from the area in October 2000.
Today, Jewish prayer at the site is limited to once a month during the middle of the night with heavy security and IDF presence. However, Jewish pilgrims sometimes attempt to visit the site at other times. Palestinians often hurl rocks and other objects at worshipers during these visits.
In 2011, Palestinian Authority police officers in charge of security at Joseph’s Tomb opened fire on three cars driven by Jewish worshipers, killing a 25-year-old man and wounding four more.
In 2015, hundreds of Palestinian rioters set the tomb on fire.
In June, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that about 20 Jewish pilgrims were arrested by Palestinian security forces and handed over to the IDF when they attempted to enter Joseph’s Tomb.
During Talmudic times, the 15th of the Hebrew month of Av, or Tu B’Av, was a festival in which young women seeking to get married danced among the vineyards hoping to be chosen by young suitors. Today it is celebrated in Israel as Judaism’s answer to St. Valentine’s Day.