The
Ibrahimi Mosque in Khalil has been built atop of a cave believed to
hold the tombs of
Prophet Ibrahim,(Abraham) and his family. The cave is called the
Cave of Machpela, which
is included in the piece of property believed to be the first piece
of land bought by Prophet
Ibrahim. The mosque has been in existence since 1206 and resembles a
fortress. It is full
of mosaics and multi colored marble floors and walls. Salah al Din
al Ayyubbi brought
walnut pulpits for preaching and religious lessons from Egypt to the
Ibrahimi Mosque.
Earthquakes and wars have taken their toll on the mosque during the
Umayyed period but
renovations, along with further infrastructures were accomplished.
The mosque includes a
school, a dike, a drinking fountain, a hospital for the mentally
disabled and a mail center on
its grounds that were constructed during the Mamluk period.The historic beauty and importance of the Ibrahimi Mosque was
tainted when radical
settlers of the Kiryat Arba kibbutz, set upon the mosque in during
the Friday prayers in
February 25th, 1994. Dr, Benjamin Goldstein, alias Barukh Goldstein,
an American Jew,
born and educated in New York, led the attack upon hundreds of
innocents in prayer. Men,
women, and children were attacked and fatally wounded or killed
whilst concentrating upon
their subservience to God. When Barukh Goldstein entered, along with
other settlers from
the kibbutz, they proceeded to fire high velocity machine guns upon
the backs of the
kneeling persons in prayer. Over 300 persons were wounded and 48
dead on site of this
horrid massacre. Israeli Occupation Authorities closed the mosque
after the massacre but
until now the settlers have not been punished and suicide bombings
near the settlement
began, born out of despair.
The following is the eyewitness testimony of Sharif B. Zahdeh.
Zahdeh said that he and his
brother, who died in the attack, arrived late to the mosque and had
to sit in the last row of
worshipers. He heard 2 persons speaking behind him in Hebrew saying,
“This is their
end.” Sharif Zahdeh said, “We later knelt in our prayer, I heard
showers of gunfire. I
looked next to me and I found my brother dead from bullets in his
head. When the shots
stopped, I say people beating a soldier. (Goldstein in his uniform.)
I saw a little
12 year-old child wounded and I tried to spare his life. I tried to
carry the boy to the
outside but an Israeli soldier stopped me and forced me to return to
the inside. I tried
another way out in the meantime I saw 4-5 settlers with civilian
uniforms in a small room.
I managed to escape with the boy to the outside but he died. Only in
the hospital, I
realized that I, too, was wounded in the chest area.” (To read more
testimonies click link)
In the battle following the massacre, the Barukh Goldstein was
unavoidably shot and died
whilst his accomplices fled the authorities. At the eulogy of
Goldstein, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel
Goldstein described Barukh as a person “having a higher status than
saints”. The rabbi
was referring to the fact that throughout his career, Dr. Barukh
Goldstein refused to treat
any Arab or non-Jewish wounded. The rabbi continued saying that
Barukh was a “Royal
Martyr”, and “It is not peace agreements which recover lands, it is
blood that recovers
lands.”
|
