Impact of Massacre Felt in L.A. : Mideast: Jewish and Muslim leaders condemn killings in Hebron. They call for an end to extremism and express worry that the peace process will be threatened.

As Los Angeles awoke Friday, the awful news of the massacre came drifting over the airwaves: 48 people killed in a Hebron mosque as they prayed at dawn. Perhaps a dozen more in the riots that followed.

So much bloodshed. Yet another terrible chapter, another horror story, in the Middle East.

And in the hours that followed the news, Jewish and Muslim leaders in Los Angeles rose in unison to condemn the killings, to say that terrorism of any stripe could not be condoned.

“It is time to play the game fair and talk about Jewish terrorists and Jewish fundamentalists as well,” said Maher Hathout, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California. “We want to fight extremism, all extremism.”

The dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier, joined in condemning the massacre and terrorism from any quarter: “Those of us who have been in the forefront of condemning terrorism cannot condemn it only when it comes from the other side. We have to condemn it in unequivocal terms when it comes from our side as well. This was senseless, wanton murder that dishonors the principles of Judaism and there is no cause that is worthy of such action.”

It was close to noon Friday when Muslim worshipers began filing through the doors of the Islamic Center mosque on Vermont Avenue, answering the call to prayers just as the Palestinians of Hebron had only hours earlier. They came from a variety of Islamic sects and soon filled the mosque to overflowing.

This is a special time in the Muslim world, the holy month of Ramadan, devoted to fasting and prayer and introspection. Devout Muslims neither eat nor drink from sunup to sundown.

After the recitation of Koranic verses, Hathout stood before the worshipers. He said he had planned to talk about generosity, about having unconditional love for everyone. But that theme no longer fit the occasion.

“Now I find myself forced to talk about a certain kind of love, a love of the victim,” he said. “Now I find myself forced to talk about a special kind of compassion for the murdered and aggrieved. We were awakened by the ugly, brutal, criminal act of terrorists when bullets were showered in the mosque in Hebron. The floor of the mosque that is always to be kept clean has been smothered with the blood of innocent people.”

As Hathout talked, his voice became even more emotional as he spoke about how the gunman and his compatriots had been allowed to build their settlements in the occupied territories, as well as live in Hebron. He wondered aloud how so many people could have been killed without the Israeli army stopping the killer. And he bitterly denounced the Israeli government over the number of Palestinians killed in the riots after the massacre.

At events throughout Los Angeles, other religious leaders joined in adding their condemnation of the massacre, carried out by an American-born doctor who lived in a nearby Jewish settlement.

Rabbi Joel Rembaum, president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, took pains to note that Palestinians have been guilty of their own atrocities in the past.

“One ought not forget there have been more acts of this kind . . . from the other side over the years and as we condemned those, we have to condemn this,” he said. “Violence begets violence. The only way this can stop is if violence can cease and that’s why there has to be peace.”

Robert Bleiweiss, editor and publisher of the Jewish Spectator, said the fundamentalist group the gunman belonged to is a serious threat to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

“I haven’t a clue as to how to solve it,” he said. “(The problem) is not a divided middle but the religious extremists on both sides. In a free country, you cannot stop a terrorist if he wants to kill somebody, even with strong security.

“The peace process represents the best chance in 100 years. Jews and Arabs have been killing each other since 1891 when the first waves of Zionists came back to Palestine. If (negotiators) don’t do it this time, it could well mean another 100 years of war.”

The local chapter of the American Jewish Congress also condemned the radical Jewish organization and said it was a mistake on the part of the Israelis to allow “fevered right-wing Jewish radicals to settle in the midst of” a place like Hebron.

“One must expect that people who regularly and publicly preach hateful, racist doctrines, when allowed to run around freely heavily armed with Uzis, will finally act on their ugly convictions,” said Rabbi Laura Geller, executive director of the American Jewish Congress Pacific Southwest Region.

Ahmed El-Gabalawy, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Northridge, the largest Muslim congregation in the San Fernando Valley, said the reaction there had been--like everywhere else--one of shock and outrage.

“Ironically, in evening prayers at the mosque last night we recited the part of the Koran that talks about how Jerusalem is sacred to both Muslims and Jews--and last night this happened.”

Times staff writer John Dart contributed to this story.