PNA thanks Ankara to stop wine festival at mosque

Palestinian National Authority has thanked Turkey for its efforts that led to the change of the venue of a wine festival which was initially planned to be held at the courtyard of a mosque in the Israeli city of Be'er Sheva, World Bulletin news agency reports. "The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Ankara expressed its thanks and appreciation to the Government and people of the Republic of Turkey, whose joined efforts, along with the efforts of the Palestinian National Authority and other nations and organizations, succeeded in the decision of the Israeli Municipality of Be'er Sheva city to withdraw plans to hold a wine festival at the courtyard of the city's museum-turned-Great Mosque," said a statement from the Palestinian Embassy on Wednesday. The embassy said the wine festival, scheduled to take place on September 5-6, had faced widespread protests and condemnations. The statement also recalled that Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag had called on the Israeli government to be sensitive and not to permit the festival, naming it a disrespectful act towards the beliefs and values of Muslims. Due to strong criticism from the Muslim world, the Municipality of Be'er Sheva has recently decided to move the wine festival off the grounds of the historic building and announced the event would take place outside the mosque's courtyard. The Be'er Sheva Mosque, built during the Ottoman reign of the region and used as a house of worship until 1948, was turned into an Islamic museum on the orders of an Israeli high court in 2011.