NABLUS, West Bank— The prospects for peace in the Middle East nudged forward at the end of 2021, when Palestinian Authority security forces foiled two attempts to set fire to Joseph’s Tomb, a site revered by Jews, Christians, Samaritans and Muslims that has long seen sectarian violence.

A Palestinian Authority official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the heavily armed police received “clear and firm” instructions to prevent any damage to the ancient domed mausoleum, the Palestinian Safa news agency reported.

The holy site, according to tradition, contains the bones of Jacob the Patriarch’s favorite son brought back by the Israelites from Pharaoh’s Egypt (Exodus 13:19), as well as his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.

The first attempt to torch the tomb took place Dec. 24, when more than four dozen Palestinians, some armed with Molotov cocktails, tried to seize the site from security forces. The security forces used batons and tear gas to disperse the mob before it could reach the site.

The second attempt occurred Dec. 26, when more than 200 Palestinians from the nearby Balata refugee camp tried to storm the site. The security forces again halted the mob.

Palestinian activists said the attempts to torch Joseph’s Tomb came in response to “settler crimes” against Palestinians in the northern West Bank over the past few weeks. They were referring to complaints by Palestinians in villages near Nablus and Jenin who claimed they had been physically assaulted by Israeli settlers.

Prevented from storming and destroying the site, rioters hurled debris at the Palestinian Authority officers, the official said.

“They threw rocks and other objects at our officers,” he said. “They also cursed the officers and accused them of being collaborators with Israel.”

An activist from Balata refugee camp said the attempts to attack Joseph’s Tomb would continue “in spite of the security measures taken by the Palestinian Authority.”

The Palestinians “have every right to defend themselves against settler attacks and terrorism,” he said.

Because of the recurring attacks on Joseph’s Tomb, the walled compound is permanently guarded by Palestinian security forces. While this journalist was able to gain entry to the locked site in previous visits by politely asking in Arabic to be admitted, on a recent visit in November, police said that the policy has changed: Permission from the Palestinian police headquarters in downtown Nablus is required to access the site.

Joseph’s Tomb has been repeatedly attacked by Palestinian rioters since Israel handed over Nablus to the Palestinian Authority's control and pulled out of the West Bank city of 126,000 in 1995, under the phased provisions of the Oslo Accords signed two years earlier. Israel captured the city in the 1967 Six Day War.

In turn, the Palestinian Authority granted Joseph's Tomb status as a heavily-armed enclave controlled by the Israel Defense Force. Those troops pulled out in 2000 following a pitched battle.

During last May’s Gaza Strip war between Israel and Hamas, Palestinians again attempted to torch the site but were foiled by Palestinian security forces.

Jews visiting Joseph’s Tomb under the monthly Israel Defense Forces escort have also come under attack by Palestinians. In some instances, the assailants fired shots at soldiers accompanying the worshippers, whom some Palestinians call “extremist settlers.”

First peace talk in Israel in a decade

In other news, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at his home in Rosh Ha’ayin on Dec. 28. The meeting marked the first time the Palestinian leader held talks with a senior Israeli official in Israel since 2010.

In a confidence-building gesture, Gantz approved the revision of identity cards to 10,000 Palestinians caught in legal limbo over their residential status. The new documents will facilitate the stateless refugees’ attendance at Palestinian schools and use of local hospitals. Like the other 3.5 million people in the West Bank, they will not be allowed to enter pre-1967 Israel without special permission.

The Abbas-Gantz meeting — together with the Palestinian Authority’s protection of Joseph’s Tomb, the collaboration of the Israeli and Palestinian Authority health ministries to combat the coronavirus pandemic, and the marginalization of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as more Arab countries have established diplomatic ties with the Jewish State under the Abraham Accords — has raised what an Abbas adviser called a “horizon” for peace.

Commenting on recent developments, peace activist David Less, co-founder of the Abrahamic Reunion, said: 

“We could have peace, even if there are problems. And there were so many people who said there can never be peace. And this will go on. It always has been, and it always will be. Well, it’s not true that it always has been. That’s not the case at all. It’s really a phenomenon of the last 100 or 125 years. And as for the idea that peace is impossible, I have two words: Northern Ireland. 

“Everybody there believed there will never be peace. And now there is. And you know what? They have peace with problems. There are still difficulties. There are still things to iron out. But there’s peace. And the same can happen in the Holy Land." 

Less added that “people want peace with justice” but said the Holy Land must first achieve peace with problems.  

Born in Toronto, Canada, Gil Zohar is now a licensed tour guide based in Jerusalem. Prior to moving to Israel, he suffered from the seasonal malady affecting some Jews — Santa Claus-trophobia. Living here, he has come to appreciate that all religions have beauty.