International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Nov. 18, 2002

Twelve Israelis, including soldiers, border police and rescue-workers, were killed and 14 wounded by grenade and sniper-fire a short distance from the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Friday evening, after the soldiers had escorted worshippers back to the nearby Jewish community of Kiryat Arba following Shabbat prayers.

Among the fatalities was Col. Dror Weinberg, the IDF's commander in Hebron, who died, along with half a dozen others trying to rescue the wounded trapped by Islamic Jihad gunmen in "Worshippers Way" - a dark, narrow street between the Jewish community and the Machpela tomb. Col. Weinberg is the most senior Israeli officer to be killed in over two years of the armed intifada.

In response, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered troops back into Palestinian-controlled sections of Hebron and placed the entire city under strict curfew. Huge IDF bulldozers moved in to level Palestinian homes from which the snipers launched their attack, and 41 suspects were arrested, of whom at least four were wanted terrorists.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Housing Minister Natan Sharansky, meanwhile, revived plans for a "security corridor" linking the Machpela Tomb and Jewish areas of the city - a controversial move that would involve putting 2000 Arabs previously under Palestinian rule back under permanent Israeli control.

Sharon disagreed during Sunday's cabinet meeting when his new foreign minister and chief Likud rival Binyamin Netanyahu suggested the Hebron ambush presented a good opportunity to exile Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Netanyahu also contended over the weekend that the attack "cancelled" the 1997 Hebron accord that he signed with Arafat dividing the city into Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas.

Early reports indicating that the terrorist gunmen targeted civilian worshippers drew widespread condemnation from the international community, but prompted anger from Palestinian news sources, which were at pains to point out that only armed "combatants" and rescue workers that entered the scene of the four-hour gun battle were killed.

In the same vein, senior officials from the Palestinian Authority declined to condemn the attack, putting the blame firmly on the Israeli "occupation." This despite the fact that Hebron, a divided city under joint Israeli/Palestinian control, had seen a comprehensive IDF troop withdrawal three weeks ago to ease the curfew on Palestinians in the area.

Jewish residents in the city were quick to condemn the Israeli Government for pulling troops out. "The writing was on the wall,' said Hebron Jewish Community spokesman, David Wlder, "...we warned them that this would happen as soon as they pulled back".

Meanwhile Islamic Jihad, the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the shootings, declared that the attack was a source of pride for all Palestinians. Their Syrian-based leader, Ramadan Shallah, said that the attack was in revenge for the killing of Iyad Sawalha, the mastermind of two deadly bus bombs that claimed over thirty Israeli lives at Megiddo and Karkur junctions earlier this year. Sawalha was killed by the IDF trying to avoid arrest in Jenin last Saturday.

"I extend congratulations to our heroic mujahideen [martyrs]" Shallah told Al-Jazeera TV, referring to the three Palestinian terrorists shot dead during the intense gunfight that ensued after the initial ambush in Hebron. Meantime Islamic Jihad supporters in Gaza rushed into the streets to celebrate.