HEBRON, Israeli-Occupied West Bank -- With his young son in his lap and his neighbors around him, Dr. Baruch Goldstein sat in his community synagogue last Thursday night to hear the traditional reading of the Book of Esther. It is a tale of wily plots and Old Testament triumph, in which the beleaguered Jews of Babylon turn the tables on a scheming foe.

At its climax, the story turns bloody: "So the Jews smote all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them."

Ten hours after hearing those ancient words Goldstein brought them to life, striding into a mosque just before dawn in this town whose history is steeped in religious hatred. He opened fire with an assault rifle on hundreds of Arabs as they knelt in prayer. Within three minutes he slaughtered dozens.

Six days later, with the region's hopes for peace momentarily overcome by Arab anger and grief, the details of the massacre are emerging as a parable of miscalculation and mistrust.

The ease with which Goldstein carried out the killing has prompted questions about government policy in the occupied territories, where the official mind-set regards Arabs as potential terrorists and is reluctant to confront danger from well-armed Jews.

Key questions about the case remain unanswered:

* How could one man firing 111 bullets kill or wound more than 170 persons?

* Why did Israeli soldiers outside the mosque not stop Goldstein once the shooting began?

* Why did the Israeli government ignore earlier warnings of Goldstein's potential for violence?

* Why was this Jewish settler, well known for his anti-Arab provocations, allowed to walk unchallenged into an Arab mosque with a loaded automatic weapon?

* Did he have help from others?

These questions were explored over the last week with Goldstein's fellow settlers, witnesses to the massacre, hospital personnel who treated the estimated 120 wounded, and the Israeli military.

Set against the backdrop of Israeli policy, many Arabs now see the case in the dark tones of a conspiracy.

Their mistrust has only been heightened by the reactions of some settlers, who have quickly built a heroic legacy for Goldstein, a New York-born zealot who immigrated to Israel a dozen years ago.

In his home settlement of Kiryat Arba, neighbors speak of how he was "brutally murdered" by the worshipers in the mosque, and he has already been likened to Mordechai, the avenging hero of the Book of Esther.

As Goldstein listened to the words of the Old Testament last Thursday night, his friends detected nothing in his behavior to suggest the plot in the physician's mind.

It was the eve of Purim, a festive Jewish holiday when children dress in costumes. The reading of the Book of Esther ushers in the feasting and celebration of the next day.

"We've gone to the reading of the Scroll of Esther together for the past 12 years," said David Ramati, a friend and neighbor of Goldstein. "He seemed no different this time than any of the others. We watched the kids scramble for candy and treats."

By the time the long service ended it was about 8:45 p.m., Mr. Ramati said. Their wives then met for their own annual tradition of Purim, to hear a reading at a neighbor's house. Goldstein went home to watch over his four children.

"He was an early riser, 3:30 or 4 a.m.," Mr. Ramati said. "He would always go to the ritual baths, and then to pray. He would be saying Psalms as the dawn was rising."

But in the moments before dawn Friday, Goldstein was already on the streets of Hebron, walking toward the mosque inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs. He was dressed in his army reservist's uniform, wearing a pistol and carrying a Galil assault rifle.

The tomb is a large, imposing stone building, befitting its 2,000 years of history. Inside are the stone tombs of Abraham and Isaac and their wives.

On one side is a warren of rough and simple rooms used by the Jews. On the other is a cavernous space with arched ceilings and carpets on the floor, where the Muslims pray.

Jews and Arabs jostle for space inside the building. The conflicts seem petty, almost juvenile in their description. But in this land, steeped in the bitterness of past grievances and the passion of ** religious righteousness, small sparks become large fires.

When the Jews would pray, the Arabs would chant, "God is Great;" when the Arabs prayed, the Jews would blow their ram horns and use megaphones to recite Hebrew prayers.

Settlers would deliberately walk on the Muslim prayer carpets in their shoes; Arabs would blow out the Sabbath candles the Jews placed around the cave.

The soldiers rarely interfered, reluctant to be drawn into the endless accusations. Unarmed Muslim guards tried to keep the two sides apart. But when tensions grew, it was clear who had the firepower.

"One day I saw a settler walking on the prayer rugs. The [Muslim] guard objected, and the settlers came and put their guns to his head," said Mohammed Abdul Rahman Abu-Taha, who prayed there daily.

"When we went to the police and they asked the settlers why they pointed their guns, the settlers said, 'Because we want to kill the Arabs.' "

Goldstein insulted Muslims

Goldstein was well known to the Muslim regulars. "When we were praying, he would throw rotten fruit and potatoes," said one. "During the prayers, he used to use the bullhorn."

The Waqf, the head of the Muslim authority for the mosque, wrote a letter in October to Israeli authorities protesting the actions of Goldstein.

The letter alleged that Goldstein and other Jewish settlers attacked six Muslim guards before Friday prayers and a week later poured flammable material on the mosque carpets.

"We hope the authorities will put an end to these inflaming, hostile actions," the letter said.

It was not the first notice of Goldstein's intentions toward Arabs. In 1990, an Israeli secret service agent who infiltrated the radical settlers' groups warned that Goldstein boasted that "the day will come when one Jew will take revenge" on the Arabs, according to reports in the Hebrew press.

During his active military service, Goldstein, a medical doctor, had balked at treating Arabs, prompting complaints by Israeli Druze Arabs who served in his unit.

At the Tomb of the Patriarchs, "the [Muslim] guards knew him, and could never stop him in the past," said Hasan Tahbobub, director general of the Higher Islamic Council.

On Friday, Mr. Abu-Taha, 75, was the first to arrive at the mosque, showing up at 4 a.m. He went to his usual spot near the imam, or preacher, and began reading the Muslim holy text to himself.

By most estimates, almost 600 worshipers eventually were there, an unusually large group, occasioned by the confluence of Friday prayers with the midpoint of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

Goldstein entered the mosque alone, according to the army. Suleiman Abu Saleh, a Muslim guard, said he tried to stop him.

"He said he was the officer in charge that night," Mr. Saleh said later. When the Muslim further objected, "He hit me on my chest with his rifle and entered by force," said Mr. Saleh.

Goldstein was not challenged by the Israeli soldiers outside the mosque.

According to an army spokesman, the soldiers thought he was doing his military reserve duty, and paid little attention. It was hardly an oddity to see a heavily armed settler walking about.

Just as the Muslims were kneeling, heads bowed, the massacre began. Many of those inside say they heard two explosions before the shooting started.

"The sound was very strong. Even the walls started to shake," said Mohammed Sair al-Jabbari, 19, who was shot in both legs. "At first we thought it was a sonic boom from a plane. Then we heard the sound of shooting. I could tell the difference."

No evidence of grenades

The army says it has found no evidence of grenades: no shrapnel in the room, no soot from an explosion, no plastic shreds left behind by the percussion "sound bombs" used to create a startling bang.

Also at odds with the army version is the contention by the majority of eyewitnesses interviewed that shooting came from more than one gun.

Mr. Jabbari, who stood at the sound of the first explosive, was struck by two bullets: one entered his left ankle from the front; one entered his right knee from an angle toward the rear. "That proves the shooting came from different directions," he said in his hospital bed.

Others offered similar testimony. Majdi Rasheed Karaki, a calm 15-year-old, was trying to crawl to safety when he was shot in the hip.

"When I was shot I just looked at [Goldstein]. He was changing his magazine at the time. He was not the man who shot me," the young man said.

The grip of unexpected horror may muddle the senses; a hushed mosque gone suddenly mad may put images in the brain that never existed.

How else to explain the testimony of survivors who said they "saw" another gunman, or saw a man in street clothes who helped Goldstein?

"We are absolutely sure that inside the mosque, no one else was shooting," said Capt. Danny Seaman, an army spokesman.

Second gunman described

There is a striking similarity among some of those descriptions: a man in blue jeans and a white shirt, handing ammunition clips -- or in some accounts handing a fresh gun -- to Goldstein. "He looked like a settler. But without a beard," said Zein Ashur Natsheh, 20, who was shot in the back. "He was loading one machine gun and then giving it to the first man."

"I saw the tall guy, but there was another settler at his back, giving him ammunition, said Mohammed Rabia al-Jabbari, 55. "When he was finished with one set of bullets, the man gave him another one."

"There was someone throwing magazines to him," said Sharif Zahideh, 27. "A second man."

And where were the soldiers as the shooting occurred?

Military authorities have acknowledged that four of the nine soldiers assigned to the post were late and showed up after the shooting.

According to Maj. Gen. Danny Yatom, military commander in the West Bank, soldiers tried to rush into the exits, but were repelled by the crush of terror-stricken Palestinians trying to flee.

General Yatom said soldiers fired their guns into the air in an effort to enter the mosque. "No Palestinian was hit or hurt by the bullets of Israeli soldiers while fleeing the mosque," he said.

Alleged to fire into crowd

Again, numerous -- though not all -- eyewitnesses offer different versions.

Mr. Jabbari: "I saw the soldiers come in and shoot toward the worshipers in order to get at the settler. They fired toward the worshipers, not the ceiling."

Hassan Bedoui Jamal, 30, was praying in the middle of the mosque. When the shooting started, he was wounded in the hip, but limped toward a far door. He said soldiers began firing on Muslims trying to get out.

"I saw four people shot right in front of me by the soldiers. I had to go back in the mosque. The soldiers were trying to get inside, but people were rushing outside."

Columns of ambulances, summoned by urgent calls, began streaming toward Hebron from Bethlehem, 16 miles away, and Jerusalem, 22 miles away.

In the chaos, doctors dealt with gushing wounds without paying too much attention to forensic details. Afterward, the surgeons agreed that most of the pieces of lead they found were from bullets. This supports the army version that no grenade was used. But there remains an element of doubt.

Doctors saw shrapnel wounds

"We saw shrapnel wounds. But they could have been caused either by hand grenades or high-velocity bullets," said Dr. Daoud Al-Obeidi, director at Amira Alia Hospital in Hebron. Many of those wounded were shot with more than one bullet.

No autopsies were performed, either on the victims or the assailant. The army at first said Goldstein killed himself, then said he was beaten to death by furious Muslims. Goldstein's family petitioned a judge to block an autopsy.

The Muslims bury their dead quickly. Many were being buried even as clashes continued in Hebron that day. Without autopsies, little hard evidence is available to say how victims were killed.

Even the number of dead remains in dispute: the Israelis now say 36 were killed in Hebron -- 30 by Goldstein. The hospitals and Palestinian sources say 51 bodies were received.

More bloodshed

The bloodshed did not end at the mosque. As relatives rushed to the hospital, crowds of Palestinians gathered. Soldiers in Hebron then arrived, and were pelted by stones. The soldiers responded with bullets.

On Monday, General Yatom said, "seven to 15 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli soldiers who fired, having felt their lives were endangered. One Palestinian or two was probably killed."

Yesterday, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said the toll attributed to the soldiers was "five or six" in Hebron.

He has ordered an official inquiry into the massacre.

To the horror of many Israelis and their government leaders, some settlers have been blunt in their praise and admiration for Goldstein, even lamenting that he did not kill more Arabs.

Kiryat Arba, one of the first settlements opened in the West Bank after Israel captured the territory in 1967, is a hotbed of religious fanatics and hatred of Arabs.

Others answer more carefully, at least for a while.

Settler Osnat Basok, a one-time patient of Goldstein's, said, "I'm for life, anybody's life, any Jew or any Arab."

But after chatting a few minutes longer, she added, "They say that innocent Arabs were killed at the mosque, but he knew that was not true. Whoever goes to a mosque where they incite to kill Jews is not innocent."

Revenge sought

Fliers and notices posted on message boards throughout Kiryat Arba call for Goldstein's death to be avenged. One glorifies his deeds by quoting the 58th Psalm: "He will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked."

In the past few days Goldstein's supporters have spread a story that on Thursday night he got wind of an impending Arab massacre.

This fits neatly into the story of Purim.

In the Book of Esther, Mordechai hears of a plot to massacre Jews, then acts quickly to turn the massacre against their foes.

But Mr. Ramati, who sat next to Goldstein at synagogue that night, noted that the settler from Brooklyn, N.Y., "had nothing special to say, and he had no special complaints."

Arabs see the glorification of Goldstein as evidence of hatred, plain and simple.

Friends and co-workers often talk of Goldstein's vigilance as a doctor, and stress that he treated Arabs as well as Jews among his patients. They speak of how he must have finally "snapped" under the pressure of his work.

But in the context of his record of ethnic hatred and inflamed rhetoric, Goldstein's actions Friday seem less of an aberration than his friends suggest.

One lunatic

The shooting has prompted the government to announce new restrictions on some of the more extreme settlers. But Mr. Rabin yesterday rejected any suggestion that government policies share the blame.

"There will be a tendency to put the blame of one lunatic on all the Jewish people, or all of Israel. But I don't believe that will be justified," he said.

In a speech Monday to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Mr. Rabin seemed to strike a fatalistic chord about the inevitability of such attacks.

L "Was it possible to have prevented this massacre?" he asked.

"We live in a difficult reality where Jews and Arabs are mixed together, rubbing shoulders daily and hourly. . . . The fanatics of both parties cannot be absolutely prevented from exploiting this reality to stage an attack."