Over 600 People Daven at Kever Yehoshua

Over 600 people jammed into the Arab village of Kifl Haris Thurday night to daven at the kever of Yehoshua Bin Nun. Dozens of IDF troops were on patrol to prevent security incidents. B’chasdei Shamayim, the evening went smoothly, with no unusual events reported. The visit was in honor of Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul.

The kever is located in an Arab village adjacent to the city of Ariel, but permission from security forces is required for Jews to visit it. Before the visitors arrived, security officials who were preparing the site for the visitors discovered anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on the walls of the building, along with a swastika. Volunteers cleaned up the site before the visitors arrived.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, celebrated the large numbers of people who attended the event. “We will continue to fulfill our obligations to our holy sites in Shomron, and that includes Kever Yehoshua. Part of those obligations is to ensure constant visitations to the holy places and to enable people to daven at them. We have a zechus to daven at these places that previous generations did not have, but the road is not totally smooth.”

Overnight Thursday, security officials said they arrested four wanted security suspects in other areas in Yehudah and Shomron. The suspects were wanted for participating in rioting and throwing stones and firebombs that endangered Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. Several of the suspects were also charged with belonging to Hamas. All were being questioned on their activities by security forces.