Trial Reopening of Hebron Mosque Reportedly Set for October

The Hebron mosque where a Jewish settler massacred about 30 Palestinians in February will reopen on Oct. 12 for 10 days to test new security arrangements, Israeli radio stations said Sunday.

The army could not confirm the exact date but said the chief of its central command, Maj. Gen. Ilan Biran, told a parliamentary committee that toured the Cave of the Patriarchs that he plans to open the shrine toward the end of October.

The shrine, holy to Muslims and Jews, has been closed since U.S.-born Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Arab worshipers Feb. 25. Survivors beat him to death.

Israeli military authorities have installed closed-circuit television cameras and metal detectors to try to tighten security at the site in the heart of the West Bank city of Hebron, a flash point of Arab-Israeli tensions.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has said plans to split the worshiping area in two, effectively barring Arabs from the tomb of the biblical patriarch Abraham, would desecrate the holy site.

Israeli radio stations said the Oct. 12 opening date was disclosed by Biran in a briefing to members of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Jewish settlers and right-wing legislators had pressed the army unsuccessfully to open the prayer halls for the Jewish New Year, which starts tonight.

According to the radio reports, Biran told the committee that the shrine will remain open for 10 days to test the new security measures. A decision will then be made toward the end of October on whether to open the site permanently.

Meanwhile, Arab gunmen in a moving car shot and killed one Israeli soldier and wounded two others in the Palestinian self-rule area of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said.

The army said the gunmen fired from a passing car at the soldiers on foot patrol at Morag junction near Rafah in the south of Gaza. The location is near Jewish settlements and one of the spots Israeli soldiers patrol under a May 4 accord setting up self-rule in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho.

The attackers escaped toward Khan Yunis in the self-rule area, the army said. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian police.

A spokesman for PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat said witnesses had told him that the vehicle used for the attack was seen escaping toward Jewish settlements, not Khan Yunis.

The attack came hours after two Jews were stabbed in the back and wounded in Arab East Jerusalem.

An Israeli police spokesman said the Jews were attacked near the Damascus Gate to the walled Old City. Their condition was not immediately known.

Israeli security chiefs had warned the public to be on the alert for guerrilla attacks ahead of the Jewish New Year holiday.

Also Sunday, an Israeli army lieutenant appeared in court on suspicion of helping anti-Arab Jewish militants obtain weapons, police said.

Israel’s army radio later said two others were arrested in the case. Police, citing a court order they said was issued later in the day barring publication of details of the case, would not comment on that report.