Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Around 1,400 jewish settlers accompanied by Israeli soldiers entered the northern West Bank city of Nablus late Wednesday to visit a holy site, witnesses and the army said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said 1,400 Israelis were bussed into the city in a "coordinated entrance."

Locals told Ma'an that Israeli forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinians who threw stones. The army official said one Palestinian "hurled rocks" at soldiers, but she said forces did not respond with tear gas or stun grenades.

The pilgrims were visiting a tomb which Jews believe to be the final resting place of the biblical figure Joseph. Muslims believe that an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat, was buried there.

Israel's Interior Minister Eli Yishai joined the pilgrimage and said Israel should resume full control of the site, the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

"Joseph's Tomb belongs to us. Of course we should resume full presence in Joseph's Tomb. The current situation is a blunt violation of the Oslo Accords and that must be fixed," Yishai said.

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.