| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Machpelah |
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(m kp ´l ) (KEY) , cave, near Hebron; also called the Cave of the Patriarchs. The Book of Genesis relates that it was bought by Abraham from Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, for a family burial place. The Mosque of Ibrahim, which now encloses the site, may be a successor to a structure built by the Herods. The mosque was the site of the murder of Muslim worshipers by an extremist Jewish settler in 1994. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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