U.S. Jews furious over killing of Lieberman's cousin on West Bank

WASHINGTON — American Jewish leaders are calling on President Bill Clinton to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for the killing of a close relative of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman.

The body of Hillel Lieberman, a second cousin of the U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate, was found in a cave in the West Bank village of Beit Furik. Lieberman's body was riddled with bullet holes. Lieberman lived in a nearby West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh.

Lieberman, the son of a prominent Brooklyn, N.Y. rabbi, was a student at the Joseph's Tomb yeshiva in Nablus, evacuated by Israeli forces and later torched by Palestinians on Saturday. Lieberman, an American citizen, was said to have been on his way to Joseph's Tomb and was not carrying a weapon.

Lieberman's father said his son was a second cousin of the Democratic candidate. But a spokeswoman for the senator denied the relationship.

U.S. Jewish leaders called on Clinton to hold PA Chairman Yasser Arafat responsible for killing. The leaders also expressed protest of the Palestinian destruction of Joseph's Tomb.

''The scene of the attack on the tomb was reminiscent of Kristallnacht in 1938 and the destruction of all the Jewish synagogues and institutions in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1947," the conference said.

Israeli military sources said on Tuesday that the PA is constructing a mosque on the site of Joseph's Tomb.