The High Court has decided that the Big Mosque structure of
Be’er Sheva, which has not been active as a mosque since 1948,
will become a museum for Islam. The court rejected the
Municipality’s position that the building should be turned into
a museum honoring the three large monotheistic religions. The
petitioners – led by Adalah, an Arab irredentist group funded by
the leftist New Israel Fund – had requested that the building
revert to its pre-Independence use as an active mosque. The
court did not reject this idea but said that the petitioners
need to first file the request with planning authorities and
only then, if it is rejected, turn to the courts. The mosque
ceased serving as a Muslim house of worship following the
liberation of Be’er Sheva in 1948. In 1953, it was turned into
the Negev Museum, housing displays that illustrated the history
of the region. However, the museum was closed a few years ago
because the structure was deemed unsafe. For decades, Arab
irredentist elements have advocated the retu