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An Arab terrorist threw a large rock at a sixty-year-old Jewish man from Kiryat Arba Wednesday as the man began bathing in Abraham's spring at Tel Rumeida in Hevron.
As the man from Kiryat Arba was getting ready to go into the water, the Arab threw a rock at him from above, hitting him in the head. He fell on his back, unconscious, with his head only centimeters away from the water. He was discovered by soldiers patrolling in the area and taken to a hospital in Jerusalem. He is reported to have suffered a concussion and is in moderate condition.
The spring, thought to have existed in the days of King David, some 3,000 years ago, is a popular site where people come to bathe and purify themselves. The water is very clean and very cold.
Lately, Jewish Hevron youth have been cleaning up the area around the spring. Earlier Wednesday a group of boys built small terraces next to the spring.
Dozens of people bathed in the spring Wednesday, for relief from the hot weather.
Following the attack, the Jewish community of Hevron issued a statement demanding that the site be protected twenty-four hours a day.
"It is unthinkable that a Jew arriving to purify himself be threatened by terrorists," a statement from the community read. "This ancient site has been a place of purification for thousands of years, and so it must remain. We call on Israeli security forces to take all measures to apprehend the Arab terrorist who attempted to murder a Jewish man in Hevron, and to ensure that this site is secure at all times."
Photos and video: Hevron Jewish community