Dispute Simmers over Vandalized Machpela Cave Synagogue

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren has joined in a dispute with the Hebron police over whether the Machpela Cave synagogue was actually vandalized last week as claimed by the settlers of Kiryat Arba, the new Jewish quarter of Hebron. The police investigating the case have indicated serious doubts that the synagogue on the site of the Patriarchs Tomb was broken into and that a damaged Torah scroll and torn prayer books actually came from the synagogue.

Rabbi Goren who visited Hebron yesterday, claimed that “It was clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the scroll had been deliberately desecrated.” He demanded that the Military Governor instruct the town authorities to post Jewish guards around-the-clock at the synagogue.

FRICTION BETWEEN JEWS, MOSLEMS IN HEBRON

The Orthodox settlers brought a damaged Torah scroll and two torn copies of the Psalms to police, claiming they were found scattered outside the synagogue. Police said yesterday that the rip in the scroll, claimed to be deliberate, was similar to tears found in other parts of the scrolls believed to be accidental. Rabbi Goren insisted that the scroll was deliberately cut in five places with a pair of scissors.

Meanwhile, friction continued between the Moslem and Jewish residents of the West Bank town. The Moslem Religious Council is opposing plans by the Military Government to enlarge the Jewish area of worship at the Machpela Cave, a shrine sacred to Moslems as well as Jews. The Kiryat Arba settlers have written to Premier Golda Meir demanding that their quarter be enlarged into a full-size all-Jewish city of 100,000 “alongside the Arab city of 50,000 which includes many hostile residents.”