The Samaria Regional Council renovated Joseph's Tomb in Nablus on Wednesday morning accompanied by the Samaria Regional Brigade after the site was set alight and vandalized on Saturday night and Monday morning.
The construction team arrived at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus early in the morning. The restoration operation, conducted in broad daylight, is the first such event to take at Joseph's Tomb since 2000 when control over the site was returned to the Palestinian Authority on orders of then-prime minister Ehud Barak.
One Palestinian was killed and 17 more were injured in a firefight with IDF troops stationed at Joseph's Tomb on Wednesday as they oversaw the restoration work, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
Joseph's Tomb has been a site of tension and violence for over two decades, most recently having been vandalized and set on fire by Palestinian rioters earlier this week, causing extensive damage. The rioters damaged not only the gravestone itself but also a chandelier hanging above it, a water tank and an electricity closet, amid arrests made by Israeli security forces in the West Bank following the deadly terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on April 7.
Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, spearheaded the site's renovation along with the Kever Yosef Directorate manager Netanil Snir and the Har Kabir construction company. Dagan proclaimed the day a historic one, "just before Independence Day, [we are] restoring the national honor of the people of Israel, and the honor of Joseph which was desecrated." Dagan also demanded that the government "return the IDF to Joseph's Tomb, and the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva to full operation [here]."
The operation was under the security purview of Colonel Roi Zweig, Brigadier-General of the Samaria Brigade as well as the Deputy Chairman of the Samaria Council, Davidi Ben Zion. Dagan expressed appreciation for the IDF soldier and security forces, who "ensure that we never leave or despair."
As Israeli forces began to move in, Col. Zweig gave a timely sermon to his soldiers, quoting Genesis and Exodus: "In this place, the land was promised to Abraham, as it is written, 'to your descendants I will give this land.' [Gen. 12:7] And today we act 'defiantly,' [Ex. 14:8] as our ancestors did as they left Egypt on Passover, which we will celebrate in three days. The Scripture says, 'on this day!' Not as thieves in the night, but rather as sons of kings. We are privileged to restore the honor of the land and the people of Israel."
The construction team rebuilt the destroyed sections of Joseph's Tomb, and repainted the fire-blackened walls. They also removed broken materials and rubble, repaired the windows and the damaged plumbing system, and reinstalled the electrical system.