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Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-mosque21-2008may21,0,2276604.story
An Island of Shiite Muslim Prayer in Israel
[Los Angeles Times] Batsheva Sobelman - The city of Ashkelon (pop. 110,000) has sadly joined Israel's southern front line as rockets fired from Gaza improve in range and technology. Last week, a rocket hit a shopping mall in town; the dozens of injured were treated at the city's Barzilai Medical Center. When the hospital was built in 1961, nothing indicated that the hill out back was anything special. It turns out that it is a site holy to certain Shiite Muslims, mostly from India and Pakistan, thousands of whom have come to pray there over the years. A prayer area for pilgrims built of marble from India was opened seven or eight years ago. "They are quiet, peaceful people. They come in silence," said Dr. Ron Lobel, deputy director of the medical center. "An island of Shiite Muslim prayer in an Israeli hospital in a Jewish state. It really is unique."