Day An, Hebron Leaders Clash over Jewish, Moslem Rights

Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, in a sharp exchange today with Moslem leaders to Hebron, flatly rejected their objections to projected changes at the Machpelah Cave–the Patriarchs Tomb–which would enlarge the area were Jews may worship and would permit them to pray on Fridays, the Moslem Sabbath. Dayan met with a group of notables in the West Bank town, including Mayor Mohammed All el Jaabari, who warned that 600 million Moslems objected to any change in the status quo at the shrine which is sacred to both Moslems and Jews.

Dayan replied that the planned changes were minimal. He recalled that after the Six-Day War, Jews limited the area in which they worshipped out of respect for Moslem rights, In contrast, he said, Moslems burned and destroyed synagogues in the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem during the 19 years of Jordanian rule and reneged on the terms of the 1949 armistice agreement which permitted Jews to visit the Western Wall.

The growing friction in Hebron stems from the increased settlement of Jews, mainly Orthodox, and the Moslem objections to their worshipping at the Tomb except during certain hours and in a restricted area. An agreement covering the terms of the use of the site by both faiths was reached five years ago between Dayan and the Moslem Council, the supreme Moslem religious authority In East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The Council has complained that the Israeli authorities plan to turn part of the Ibrahim Mosque compound into a synagogue by roofing over a courtyard. Military Government circles said yesterday that the Council was “overreacting” to what they described as “slight changes being introduced with the aim of maintaining order amid an increase in the number of Jewish congregants,” The Jewish settlers in Hebron have charged that the present rules at the Machpelah Cave discriminate against them.