Gee, I thought all this history happened several thousand years before Islamism made its ugly eruption
Yep and the other cave is the cave Abraham purchased to bury Sarah in Hebron . Sarah ,Abraham , Issac , Jacob and Leah are buried there . Ishmael and Essau (the ancestors to the so called palestinians are NOT buried there .
(Genesis 23:16) And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
(Genesis 23:17) And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure
(Genesis 23:18) Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
(Genesis 23:19) And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
(Genesis 23:20) And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.