
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 26, 1994                   TAG: 9402260073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: HEBRON, ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK                                LENGTH: Medium

MASSACRE AT MOSQUE DETONATES MIDDLE EAST

The death toll from a massacre of Muslim worshipers and its echoes of violence Friday rose to nearly 60, the largest such bloodletting since Israel captured the West Bank in 1967.

Israel said a Jewish settler - a physician who immigrated from New York more than a decade ago - opened fire with an automatic weapon in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, cutting down Arabs at their prayers.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called it "a loathsome" and "crazed action." He took the extraordinary step of calling Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to apologize.

Israeli sources Friday night said 53 Arabs were killed in Hebron, most of them inside the mosque at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is shared by Jews and Muslims. Palestinian sources said some counted in that toll were killed in Hebron in clashes with Israeli soldiers after the massacre.

At least five more Palestinians were killed elsewhere and more than 100 injured when Arabs poured into the streets in anger throughout the West Bank and Gaza, confronting Israeli soldiers.

Israel braced for further disturbances today. Authorities clamped curfews on the Gaza Strip on Hebron, and for the first time extended the curfew to Jewish settlers.

Israeli leaders expected a storm of international criticism, and expressed fears that Arab anger would further jeopardize the already-lagging peace process.

President Clinton summoned Israeli and Palestinian leaders to Washington for an all-out attempt to complete negotiations on their agreement for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.

In Tunisia, Arafat said the killings show "we are in need of an international protection for our civilians, our people. What happened today in the mosque is a real tragedy that will backfire on the whole peace process."

Officials said the gunman, Baruch Goldstein, 42, was a follower of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane and his Kach movement that espouses racist views.

After some uncertainty Friday, Israeli authorities said Goldstein was beaten to death, apparently by Muslims after he ran out of ammunition. They said Goldstein acted alone.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB