Palestinians Methodically Demolish Isolated Holy Site

Triumphant Palestinians swarmed over the concrete compound known as Joseph’s Tomb on Saturday, chipping away at its ancient walls with pickaxes and trashing the Hebrew texts left inside.

Not one, but five Palestinian flags were raised in the first hours after Israeli troops vacated the tiny Jewish shrine. Palestinian police eventually made a halfhearted attempt to cordon off the site, but not until after crowds had set it ablaze and not much remained.

Boys scampered through the still-burning ruins, collecting spent bullets like marbles. Older men made off with yards of metal piping and tin sheeting.

Chanting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is Great,” and firing M-16s into the air in celebration, Palestinians of Nablus declared the site “liberated” and said they had learned the lesson of Lebanon and the Islamic Hezbollah militants: It takes guns, not peace talks, to win this fight.

Israel was furious at the “brutal vandalism” inflicted on a site that many Jews believe is where the biblical patriarch Joseph is buried. As television pictures of the ransacking were broadcast Saturday evening, Israelis were outraged at what they saw as wholesale desecration.

“Now we see that Israel cannot rely on any force but Israel’s force and strength,” said opposition parliamentarian Reuven Rivlin.

“We are supposed to live with these people?” asked government Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

The Israeli military made a predawn escape from the fortified shrine after deciding that it was no longer tenable to maintain a small contingent of soldiers inside a compound smack in the middle of this hard-line Palestinian-controlled city.

In the last 10 days of street combat throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Joseph’s Tomb was one of the deadliest spots. A well-armed Palestinian militia attacked the tomb area relentlessly. One Israeli and six Palestinians were killed here alone.

In a deal brokered with the help of the United States, senior Palestinian officials agreed to permit the Israelis to withdraw early Saturday without threat of attack, and they agreed to protect the site afterward. Neither pledge held: Palestinian gunmen fired on the retreating Israeli convoy, injuring one soldier, and then the mobs overran the tomb.

“The people are happy that the Zionists are out of here,” said Anwar al Masri, a uniformed policeman who was trudging through the rubble. “They want to remove every single thing that would give [the Israelis] an excuse to come back.”

This apparently is the first time Israel has relinquished land as a direct result of Palestinian attack. Critics accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of surrendering to violence. The army insisted that the evacuation was temporary--but there didn’t seem to be much to return to.

Several people said they never believed that this corner of Nablus should be considered holy to Jews. It is, they claim, really the burial site of Sheik Yusuf, not the biblical Joseph of the coat of many colors.

“Do the DNA tests,” suggested Hussam Khader, a Nablus political leader and friend of the militiamen. “You’ll find the bones buried here are only one or two hundred years old. Not 4,000 years.”

The Joseph’s Tomb enclave had included a yeshiva where several dozen Jews studied and prayed daily. They were evacuated as soon as the violence began in late September.

Army officials said Saturday that they had rescued two truckloads of equipment, Torahs and other books. But some Hebrew texts and prayer books apparently were left behind and were becoming war trophies for Palestinian youths.

Music blared Saturday from loudspeakers, smoke filled the air, and militiamen with automatic weapons slung across their backs swaggered by, as did Palestinian special police.

Asraf Shabaro, a 20-year-old fighter, sat to one side, watching the frenzy unfold and nursing a wounded leg. The Israelis shot him, he said, last Sunday as he launched a firebomb at the entrance to the compound.

He said he wanted to send a message to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. “This peace? We do not want it,” he said. “We will fight until we have liberated all the land.”

Khader said the Palestinians’ “victory” at Joseph’s Tomb would serve as inspiration for gunmen to take over other land where Israel continues to attempt to exert control, such as Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem.

“This will make people lose confidence in the peace process,” Khader said. “It’s like Hezbollah: liberation by guns and not by peace talks.”

Jamal Terawi, head of intelligence for the Palestinian Authority in Nablus, agreed. “This is only the first message we are sending to Israel,” he said, flanked by two bodyguards as he surveyed the dismantling of the shrine. “Our goal is to liberate the land, and we don’t care by what means.”

The Israeli commander for the region said the Joseph’s Tomb debacle was an omen for future security arrangements.

Brig. Gen. Benny Gantz, Israeli military commander for the West Bank, heaped scorn upon the Palestinians for failing to keep their end of the bargain in the pullout deal. He questioned a future relationship with “our so-called partners.”