Hebron Massacre

   On 29 February, 1994 Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a resident of Kiryat Arba and follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane and his Kach Movement, opened fire with an assault rifle on Arab worshipers in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs (known to Muslims as the Ibrahim Mosque), killing 29 and wounding more than 100 others. Goldstein was killed by survivors of the attack. It was one of the bloodiest single days in the Occupied Territories since the Six-Day War (1967). The attack was immediately condemned by the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and all parties in the Knesset. A commission of inquiry headed by the president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Justice Meir Shamgar, concluded on 26 June 1994 that Goldstein had acted alone in committing this "base and murderous" massacre. The attack, which was condemned by the United Nations Security Council, caused a brief disruption in autonomy negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization and led to the imposition of a Temporary International Presence in Hebron comprised of unarmed European observers.

   See also Shamgar Commission of Inquiry; Tomb of the Patriarchs.