I have been hearing from Jews and Muslims how inspired they are by this place, how proud they feel to be able to come here and worship, and yet my reaction to hearing them speak separately is one of sadness. The real Judaism had always been universal and integrationalist.JM: It’s now late afternoon in Hebron, and I am looking at a huge stone edifice, surrounded by barbed wire, and at every entrance there are armed guards. How can you live peacefully with those people? These things have nothing to do with genuine Judaism. Many settlers do not do what they do because of faith, they do it because of territorial greed.

Those people consider not only Palestine as the great land of Israel; they consider Egypt, Iraq, Syria, parts of Turkey, Cyprus as constituting Greater Israel. God deals with people, not in accordance with their sex, race or colour, but according to their righteousness, their faithfulness.JM: Having spoken to a couple of West Bank settlers, they are adamant that they wish to live in peace with their Palestinian, Muslim neighbours, but that against them is arrayed this determined view of a jihad that must destroy them.KA: This is not true This is public relations. By definition, a Muslim is one who submits himself to God.I think that we transgress on religion, on faith and on God when we present God as a biased real-estate dealer God is not like that. He was a man upright in faith, who surrendered himself to the Almighty.” In other words, he was a Muslim.

But, as I learnt from Khaled Amayreh, a Muslim journalist working in Hebron, they also deeply resent any Jewish attempts to lay claim to the Patriarch.KHALED AMAYREH: Abraham was not Jewish; he existed before the Torah and before Moses. And the Koran says: “Abraham was neither a Jew or a Christian. As I remembered from my days in captivity, Muslims revere Abraham, or Ibrahim, as one of the five great prophets, and the father of Ishmael, founder of the Arab nations. If my choice is between that person living next to me or not, I would choose to have him not live here.JM: It’s a short walk to the Palestinian side of the shrine, but it might be a different world. I do mind the situation where we are not allowed to have Abraham at all.JM: Is there a sense that you would feel the Jews have been pushed out too many times, that it is now your responsibility to stay here for good?DW: There is a neighbourhood in Hebron where, a year ago, a 63-year- old rabbi was murdered in his bedroom An Arab came through his window and stabbed him to death And then he threw a fire bomb inside the room This isn’t peace This isn’t a person I can live next to.