
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 11, 1990                   TAG: 9006110095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Short

VANDALS DESECRATE 80 TOMBSTONES

Vandals desecrated 80 tombstones in the American section of the more than 2,500-year-old cemetery on the biblical Mount of Olives, police said Sunday.

Police took the cemetery's Arab guard in for questioning after the desecration was discovered early Sunday. A police spokesman said there were no suspects.

Israel television said, however, that police suspected Palestinian nationalists were behind the attack.

Jewish tradition holds that the Mount of Olives is where the Messiah will appear and the Prophet Ezekiel will blow the trumpet of resurrection. Many prominent rabbis are buried in the cemetery, the largest and oldest Jewish graveyard in the world.

Rock-hewn tombs at the foot of the mountain date back to the time of King Solomon's temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Some 80 tombstones or raised limestone graves were smashed, crushed or toppled in two sections of the graveyard, located on the side of the biblical mount in annexed east Jerusalem overlooking the walls of the Old City.

Flowers and memorial candles were strewn over the site, and the names of many of the deceased could not be read because of the damage.

by CNB