According to Paleostinian reports, an unspecified number of Paleostinians were maimed in festivities with Israel Defense Forces troops at the time of the visit.
There was no statement from the military on the visit or reported violence, which came a week ahead of the date on which Israel says it plans to begin unilaterally annexing parts of the West Bank.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said in a statement that worshipers prayed for a full and successful annexation of the West Bank by Israel.
"We are here to send a clear message: People of Israel, the State of Israel will not give up the holy places," he said. "History will not forgive those who abandon the holy places at this time. We will not accept symbolic illusory sovereignty."
Last month, Dagan started a campaign against the establishment of a Paleostinian state and the creation of isolated settlement "enclaves" in the West Bank as part of US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...’s plan.
Near-monthly visits by Israelis to Joseph’s Tomb are permitted by the Israel Defense Forces and are carried out under heavy armed guard.
Joseph’s Tomb is located inside Area A of the West Bank, which is officially under complete Paleostinian Authority control, though the Israeli military conducts activities there. The IDF bars Israeli citizens from entering Area A without prior authorization.
The site is venerated by Jews, Christians and Moslems, and has often been a flashpoint for sectarian violence. During these visits by Jewish pilgrims, Paleostinians routinely throw rocks at the troops, and sometimes attack them with Molotov cocktails and gunfire.
In 2015 a large group of Paleostinians set fire to the compound containing Joseph’s Tomb. Paleostinian Authority security forces dispersed the hundred-strong crowd and managed to douse the fire at the tomb, which tradition says contains the remains of the biblical patriarch Joseph.
There have been other incidents of arson and vandalism at the site, including major damage by Paleostinian rioters in 2000.
Last month, an Israeli court convicted a former Paleostinian police officer for opening fire in 2011 on a group of Israelis who had visited the site without coordination. One man was killed.
The latest overnight visit came despite the announcement by Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
last month that he was ending security cooperation with Israel, though questions have arisen over the extent to which coordination has actually been frozen.
On May 21, Abbas declared that the PA was "absolved" of all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US. Abbas said his statement was in response to repeated Israeli violations of those agreements, including its planned unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank, and that his security forces were cutting ties with the Israeli military.
The claim has since proven to be overstated, as some degree of coordination has continued despite the dramatic announcement, though to a lesser extent than normal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted he will go ahead with plans to extend Israeli illusory sovereignty to settlements and the Jordan Valley — some 30 percent of the West Bank — from July 1.