Shrine caught in eternal conflict

JERUSALEM - The Middle East riots which began 11 days ago at one site sacred to Muslims and Jews, reached new depths at another - the tomb of the Jewish patriarch Joseph in the heart of the Palestinian-controlled city of Nablus.

For a week six Israeli soldiers backed by rockets from helicopter gunships and hilltop snipers had defended the shrine against rioting Palestinians.

Israel finally agreed to withdraw the troops from the besieged shrine on the condition that Palestinian police would protect it.

But soon after the soldiers departed at dawn yesterday under an escort of Palestinian police, the rioters began moving in.

Using crowbars, pick-axes and even their bare hands, they reduced the shrine to smouldering rubble in a matter of hours.

The riots were sparked when hawkish Israeli Opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary.

Like that site, Joseph's Tomb has significance for both sides of the Middle East divide.

It is revered by a small group of religious Zionist zealots who are convinced that it is a tomb of a patriarch, dating back 3000 years to the Old Testament.

Most archaeologists scoff at the claim.

Muslims insist that it is the tomb of an Islamic cleric who died 200 years ago.

But that did not deter the crowds from destroying what had become a hated Israeli outpost, a symbol of occupation, and, in the past week, a killing ground on which six Palestinians and one Israeli border guard died.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was quick to order the rebuilding of the shrine.

"President Arafat has called on the Mayor of Nablus, Bassam Chak, to begin the reconstruction of the tomb tomorrow," Tayeb Abdel Rahim, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Authority, told the Wafa news agency.

But the authority's failure to protect the shrine in the first place was seen as increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to crush the rioters with even more military force.

Mr Barak yesterday gave Mr Arafat a 48-hour ultimatum to end the unrest. If the riots carry on after the ultimatum expires tomorrow, Mr Barak said he would regard the peace process as dead and crack down hard.

Israel's national security chief, Major-General Uzi Dayan, said that if Palestinians wanted a fight, they would get one.

"I wouldn't rush to speak of an all-out war but without a doubt we're in a period that if the Palestinians choose confrontation, there will be a confrontation."

Despite the stern warning, the violence continued unabated, pushing the death toll to at least 83 people.

The Israeli military yesterday blew up two multi-storey apartment buildings in Gaza.

On the West Bank, they sent attack helicopters into Hebron for the first time, blasting Palestinian hilltop positions.

- AGENCIES