Hundreds of settlers visit Joseph's Tomb in Nablus

Hundreds of settlers visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus early Wednesday, locals said. Ten buses carrying over 1,000 settlers were seen by local residents in the area overnight. They were accompanied by Israeli military vehicles. Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the site was to remain under Israeli control. But the Israeli army evacuated the premises in October 2000 shortly after the start of the second intifada, or uprising, and it was immediately destroyed and burnt by the Palestinians. The restoration of the tomb was completed recently, and following improved security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, the army allows Jewish worshipers to make monthly nocturnal pilgrimages to the site.