01/02/2022
The Cave of the Patriarchs, known to Jews as the Cave of Machpelah (Hebrew: מערת המכפלה,
Me'arat HaMakhpela, lit. 'Cave of the Double Caves') and to Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham (Arabic: الحرم الإبراهيمي,
al-Haram al-Ibrahimi, is a series of caves situated 30 kilometres south of Jerusalem in the heart of the Old City of Hebron.
During the Six-Day War of 1967, the entire Jordanian-occupied West Bank was seized and occupied by the State of Israel, after which the structure was divided into a synagogue and a mosque.
In 1968, a special arrangement was made to accommodate Jewish services on the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement, leading to a hand-grenade attack on 9 October which injured 47 Israelis; and a second bombing on 4 November, which wounded 6 people. Further attacks occurred on Yom Kippur eve in 1976, when an Arab mob destroyed several Torah scrolls and prayer books at the tomb, and in May 1980, when an attack on Jewish worshippers returning from prayers at the tomb left 6 dead and 17 wounded. In 1994, the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre occurred at the Ibrahimi Mosque, in which an armed Israeli settler entered the complex on the Jewish holiday of Purim—which had occurred during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan—and opened fire on Palestinian Muslims who had gathered to pray at the site, killing 29 people, including children, and wounding over 125.
