1.
GV Tomb of the Patriarch
0.03

2.
CV Abraham's tomb sign
0.08

3.
SV Tomb PAN TO Restaurant & people coming out (2 shots)
0.18

4.
GV EXT Police station & CV Sign (2 shots)
0.26

5.
SV INT Police station. Policeman sorting torn pages (3 shots)
0.42

6.
SV Rabbi Levinger sorting scraps of paper & packing fragment into envelope (3 shots)
0.58



Initials ESP/2248 ESP/2302



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Police were called to the disputed "Cave of the Patriarchs", near Hebron, on the West Bank of the River Jordan on Thursday (23 November), after complaints that Jewish Holy Scrolls and prayer books at the shrine had been desecrated.

The torn scrolls and burnt copies of the Psalms were found early on Thursday morning, not long after the Supreme Moslem Council of East Jerusalem had called for a meeting of Moslem religious leaders to discuss the whole question of Jewish worship at the cave.

Among the small Jewish community, who live around the Arab town of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Jordan, tension was reported to be high as a result of the incident.

The shrine, known also as the Cave of Machpelah, is traditionally believed to be the burial place of the Patriarch Abraham, from whom both Moslem and Jew claim descent.

It has been a centre of controversy for centuries.