Life in the Besieged City
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lowing into the air. A phosphorus bomb eerily lit the landscape. Arab guns blazed away to check the anticipated assault.
None came. Was it a feint? Did the Jews plan to plunge
through at another point?
The Arabs continued their withering fire upon Mount
Zion. From inside the Old City walls rumble after rumble
echoed into the outer world. The glow from embers and hot
bricks was constant. Who knows how my people were faring
in the monastery that adjoined the Jewish quarter? What a
night of terror for its 3,800 huddled occupants! And who
knows what had happened to the Armenian Church of the
Holy Savior built near the site of the Lord's Last Supper,
dating from the sixth century, just outside Zion Gate? It was
in the direct line of fire, a prime target for the Arabs; as,
twenty-four hours ago, it had been a prime target for the Jews.
Mount Zion is regarded as one of the holiest areas in Jerusalem, associated with Christ's last days on earth. He held
his Last Supper here. After the Crucifixion it was on Mount
Zion that He appeared to his disciples and his Mother. Mary
lived and died here in a house that became known as the Holy
Cenacle. Respect for the holy places in the course of fighting,
I had come to realize, is a noble but impossible objective.
Both sides desecrated Christian and Jewish shrines if the sites
interfered with, or proved themselves valuable for, military
operations. After the shooting due respect was accorded,
apologies proffered, sometimes a guard posted, and warning
signs placed in order to: (a) assuage stricken consciences;
(b) present a respectable front for the sake of world opinion.
I learned that neither virtue nor hypocrisy are exclusively
Arab or exclusively Jewish traits.
From the Pantiles rooftop I looked upon the blood-letting
taking place on "sacred" ground. Could anything have been
more savage in a supposedly "Holy City?" Seven miles away
in Bethlehem, Christ was born. He came to Jerusalem over
the road which v2