Brussels, February 24: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday denounced Israeli “provocation” over two holy sites in the Israel-occupied Palestinian West Bank that could unleash a “religious war”.
Israel’s hardline Prime Mistier Netanyahu sparked outrage in on Sunday when he said he hoped to include Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in a national heritage plan.
The two sites are in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
“Such provocation cannot contribute positively to the progress of the peace process,” Abbas said, through an interpreter, following talks with EU parliament president Jerzy Buzek in Brussels.
“This could provoke a religious war” Abbas warned earlier, in comments to the Belgian Senate.
The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where the biblical patriarch Abraham is believed buried, is sacred to both Muslims and Jews and has long been the scene of tensions.
Netanyahu’s remarks had already drawn protests from Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
The democratically elected movement Hamas has also denounced the Israeli plan which they also see as provocation against Muslims.
—Agencies