Kach Kach Kach ' onMouseout='HidePop("51385")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Purim">Purim
Purim is a festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian Empire from Haman's plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther...
and
RamadanRamadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset...
.
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
harshly condemned the attack and promised to pay compensation to the families of the victims.
Massacre
The Cave of the Patriarchs is divided into two sections, one for Jewish worshippers and the other for Muslim worshippers. The section for the Jewish worshippers includes the
AbrahamAbraham is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples, as described in the book of Genesis. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims....
Hall, which is also used for
brit milahBrit milah is a religious ceremony within Judaism to welcome infant Jewish boys into a covenant between God and the Children of Israel through ritual circumcision performed by a mohel...
ceremonies, and the
JacobJacob , also known as Israel , was the third Biblical patriarch and ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel, named after ten of his twelve sons, as well as the two sons of his son Joseph.The Bible says...
Hall. A
YeshivaYeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for study of its traditional, central texts...
h has also been set up. Numerous Jewish
religious servicesJewish services are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism...
take place every day in this section of the Cave. The section for Muslim worshippers includes the much larger
IsaacIsaac or Ishak ) was the only child of Abraham and Sarah, and the father of Jacob and Esau, described in the Hebrew Bible. He is regarded as one of the three patriarchs of the Jewish people...
Hall. On ten days in the year, the entire cave is reserved for the exclusive use of Jewish worshippers and on ten other days in for the exclusive use of Muslim worshippers.
At 05:00 a.m. on 25 February, 800
PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s passed through the east gate of the cave to participate in
FajrThe Fajr prayer is the first of the five daily prayers after recited by practising Muslims. The five daily prayers collectively form one pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam, in Sunni Islam, and one of the ten Practices of the Religion according to Shia Islam.The Fajr prayer is mentioned by name...
, the first of the five daily Islamic prayers. The cave was under
Israeli ArmyThe Israeli GOC Army headquarters , is a multi-corps command headquarters created in 1998, which amalgamates the ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces. As of December, 2007, Mazi is headed by Aluf Avi Mizrahi.-The IDF's third arm:...
guard, but of the nine soldiers supposed to have been on duty, four were late turning up, and only one officer was there.
Shortly afterwards, Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish resident of the
Kiryat ArbaKiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba is an Israeli settlement with local council status in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank adjoining the city of Hebron. In 2008 it has a population of 7,200.-Name:...
settlement and member of the extremist Kahanist movement, entered the Isaac Hall of the cave. He was dressed in his army uniform and carried an
IMI GalilThe Galil is a family of Israeli small arms designed by Yisrael Galili and Yaacov Lior in the late 1960s and produced by Israel Military Industries Ltd of Ramat HaSharon...
assault rifleAn assault rifle is a rifle designed for combat, with selective fire . Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies, having largely superseded or supplemented larger and more powerful battle rifles such as the M14, FN FAL and the Heckler & Koch G3...
and four magazines of ammunition, which held 35 rounds each. He was not stopped by the guards, who assumed that he was an officer entering the tomb to pray in an adjacent chamber reserved for Jews.
Standing in front of the only exit from the cave and positioned to the rear of the Muslim worshippers, he opened fire with the weapon, killing 29 people and injuring another 125.
He was eventually overwhelmed by survivors, who beat him to death. State Attorney Dorit Benish refused to prosecute those who killed Goldstein after disarming him.
Reports after the massacre were inevitably highly confused. In particular, there was uncertainty about whether Goldstein had acted alone; it was reported that eyewitnesses had seen "another man, also dressed as a soldier, handing him ammunition." There were also reports that he had thrown grenades into the worshippers. The Palestinian leader
Yasser ArafatMohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political...
claimed that the attack was the work of up to 12 men, including Israeli troops. However, a preliminary Israeli Army investigation, and the more thorough commission later set up, found that there had been no use of grenades and that Goldstein had acted alone without the assistance or connivance of the Israeli guards posted at the cave.
Victims
- AbdelHak Ibrahim AbdelHak Al Ja'bari, 55
- AbdelRahim AbdelRahman Abu Sneineh, 48
- Ahmad Aballah Mohammad Taha Abu Sneineh, 25
- Ala' Badr AbdelHalim Taha Abu Sneineh, 17
- Arafat Musa Yosef Borkan, 28
- Eyyad Hussein AbdelAziz Abuhadid Abu Sneineh, 22
- Hatem Nimr Khader Al Fakhouri, 26
- Kamal Jamal AbdelMughni Kafeisheh, 13
- Khaled Khalawi A. Hussein Abu Sneineh, 58
- Khaled Mohammad Hamzeh Al Karaki, 18
- Jameel Ayed AbdelFattah Al Natshih, 48
- Jabr A'aref AbuHadid Abu Sneineh, 11
- Mahmoud Saddek Mohammad Abu Za'nooneh, 49
- Marwan Mutlaq Hamid Abu Nijmih, 32
- Mohammad Ayyed Izzat Elatrash Abu Sneineh, 21
|
Mohammad Kifah AbdelMuiz Zakaria Maraka, 11
Mohammad Raji Zein AbdelKhalek Gheith, 47
Mohammad Zeidan Hammoudah AbdelMajeed Jaber, 26
Nimr Mohammad Nimr Mojahed, 34
Raed AbdelMuttaleb Hasan Al Natshih, 20
Rami Arafat Ali Al Rajabi, 11
Saber Musa Husni Katbeh Badr, 37
Salim Idreis Falah Idreis, 27
Salman Awwad E'layyan Al Ja'bari, 37
Sufian Barakat O'of Zahdeh, 21
Talal Mohammad Dawud Mahmoud Dandeis, 26
Tareq Adnan Mohammad A'ashour Abu Sneineh, 14
Wael Salah Ya'kub Al Muhtaseb, 28
Walid Zuheir Mahfooth Abu Hamdieh, 13 |
Israeli government
Goldstein's actions were immediately condemned by the Israeli government, the mainstream Israeli parties and the Israeli populace in general. Spokespeople for all the organized denominations of
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
denounced his act as immoral and as terrorism. The
KachKach Kach Kach ' onMouseout='HidePop("55334")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Knesset">Knesset
The Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
, Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
denounced the US-born Goldstein as a "foreign implant" and an "errant weed". He continued, "We say to this horrible man and those like him: you are a shame on
ZionismZionism is the international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine. The area was the Jewish Biblical homeland, called the Land of Israel...
and an embarrassment to Judaism." Binyamin Netanyahu, head of the right of centre
LikudLikud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
party declared, "This was a despicable crime. I express my unequivocal condemnation."
Shamgar Commission
The
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i government appointed an official and independent commission of inquiry headed by then president of the
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court is at the head of the court system in the State of Israel. It is the highest judicial instance. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem. The area of its jurisdiction is the entire State. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme Court itself...
,
Judge Meir Shamgarthumb|rightMeir Shamgar was President of the Israeli Supreme Court from 1983 until 1995.Shamgar studied history and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and law at the Government Law School of the University of London. Part of his legal studies was done while he was interned in Africa...
. It found that:
- Goldstein
Baruch Kappel Goldstein was an American born Israeli physician who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque and wounding another 150 in a shooting attack.-Biography:Goldstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to an...
acted alone in planning the massacre, telling no one of his scheme.
- Coordination between the IDF
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, the police, and the Civil Administration was problematic.
- The political leadership and security forces could not have been expected to predict the massacre.
- Testimony from survivors referring to IDF
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
assistance and grenade explosions in the massacre was found to be contradictory and inconsistent; investigators did not find any grenade fragments.
Jewish diaspora
In
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
the Chief Rabbi
Dr. Jonathan SacksJonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks, Kt is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His Hebrew name is Yaakov Zvi....
stated "Such an act is an obscenity and a travesty of Jewish values. That it should have been perpetrated against worshippers in a house of prayer at a holy time makes it a
blasphemyBlasphemy is the use of reference to one or more gods in a manner considered objectionable by a religious authority. It may include using sacred names as stress expletives without intention to pray or speak of sacred matters; it is also sometimes defined as language expressing disbelief or...
as well." He continued, "Violence is evil. Violence committed in the name of God is doubly evil. Violence against those engaged in worshipping God is unspeakably evil."
An editorial in
The Jewish ChronicleThe Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.It appears every Friday providing news, views, social, cultural and sports reports, as well as editorials and a spectrum of readers' opinions on...
written by
Chaim BermantChaim Icyk Bermant was a prominent Anglo-Jewish journalist, author and wit. Born in Latvia, he spent much of his childhood in Scotland...
denounced the Kach organisation to which Goldstein belonged as "Neo-Nazis" and a U.S. creation, funded by American money and a product of American gun culture. The same edition also reported that some
liberalLiberal Judaism in the United Kingdom is one of the two forms of Progressive Judaism found in the United Kingdom, the other being Reform Judaism. Liberal Judaism, which developed at the beginning of the twentieth century is less conservative than UK Reform Judaism...
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
s in the UK had begun fund-raising for Goldstein's victims.
Protests and violence
Angry mobs began rioting in the aftermath of the massacre, which led to the deaths of 26 more Palestinians and 9
IsraelisIsraelis , are citizens or nationals of the modern state of Israel. Israel is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds including most numerously Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Druze, Circassians, and others...
. In
AmmanAmman , sometimes spelled Ammann , is the capital city of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a city of 2,525,000 inhabitants , and the administrative capital and commercial center of Jordan. It is also the largest city in Jordan. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world...
,
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
, 77-year-old British tourist Howard Long was stabbed by Arab protesters. The attacker, Khalid Husni Al-Korashi, was subsequently arrested and the Jordanian Interior Ministry called for its citizens to show calm and restraint in their response.
Other reactions
Goldstein experienced an emotional crisis in December, when two of his friends were ambushed by Arab attackers near Kiryat Arba.
As head of the local emergency medical team, Goldstein was called, and Mordechai Lapid and his 19-year-old son died in his arms. Goldstein is not known to have given any reasons for his actions. However, immediately after the attack, Mike Guzofsky, spokesman for Kahane Chai in
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
and a close friend of Goldstein said, "He wanted to stop the
peace processThe Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
dead. He couldn't have picked a better day –
PurimPurim is a festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian Empire from Haman's plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther...
, when Jews fight back."
At Goldstein's eulogy Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba stated: "Goldstein could not continue to bear all the cases he was seeing as a doctor; he might have gone insane from all he went through." According to Dr. Manfred R. Lehmann, Goldstein, in his capacity of head medical officer in Kiryat Arba, was aware of inside information warning of an upcoming Arab pogrom and acted in order to prevent this. He also claims that the good name of Goldstein at that time was testified to by his promotion to Major and the lengthy letter of promotion saying "If there is an officer in the District of Judea and Samaria worthy of promotion in rank it is without doubt Dr. (Captain) Baruch Goldstein."
A poll of 500 Israeli adults for the International Centre for Peace in the Middle East found that 78.8 percent of people condemned the Hebron massacre while 3.6 percent praised Goldstein.
In Hebron, Jewish settlers danced in the streets and praised Goldstein's martyrdom.
As a reaction to the trauma induced in children of the city the
Palestinian Child Arts CenterThe Palestinian Child Arts Center, or PCAC, is a non-governmental, non-profit organization founded in 1994 in the Palestinian city of Hebron...
(PCAC), a non-governmental, non-profit organization was founded. The activities of the centre primarily involve the intellectual development of Palestinian children, and to reinforce a positive role for the child within Palestinian society and culture.
External references
- *
The Background and Consequences of the Massacre in Hebron, by
Israel ShahakIsrael Shahak , was a Polish-born Israeli chemist, a professor of chemistry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, known especially as a radical political thinker and author and activist for the defense of the human and civil rights...
in
Middle East PolicyMiddle East Policy is an academic peer-reviewed journal on the Middle East region in the field of foreign policy founded in 1982, published quarterly by Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Middle East Policy Council and available online with subscription via Blackwell Synergy...
, 1994