Peace Now: Demolish Goldstein grave

Follows clashes between worshippers, police at memorial for Kiryat Arba doctor.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
goldstein 88 (photo credit: )
goldstein 88
(photo credit: )
Peace Now secretary-general Yariv Oppenheimer (read his JPost blog) on Saturday night called for the demolition of the grave site of Doctor Baruch Goldstein, who was killed after going on a shooting spree at the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994. The call to demolish the grave, which is located near Kiryat Arba, followed clashes that erupted at the site hours earlier between worshippers and police during a public celebration in Goldstein's memory. Army Radio reported that the violence erupted after Judea and Samaria Police arrested one of the participants of the celebration when he revealed a placard showing a picture of the outlawed Kach Party founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, during the reading of the megilla. Following the arrest, the worshippers rioted and exchanged blows with police at the site. Also, settlers slashed the tires of the Hebron Police commander's car, as well as those of a police patrol vehicle. Earlier Saturday, Peace Now urged the Judea and Samaria Police commander to call off the celebration that the settlers had planned to take place next to Goldstein's grave. Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians in the 1994 attack, has been viewed by the various factions of the Israeli public as either a terrorist or a hero. The latter view is held primarily by Kiryat Arba residents - many of whom knew Goldstein - who say the Jewish doctor had received a warning that worshippers in the mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs were planning a terror attack against Israel, and that Goldstein's actions prevented an unknown number of Jewish deaths.