Untitled Document

15 May 2004

King David

O.K., so the State of Israel came into existence on this day, just after midnight, when the Americans were just leaving work in Washington. The United States had recognized the new Jewish state as a sort of off-hand, end-of-the-day action over the objection of Secretary of State George C. Marshall.

David ben-Gurion ceased to be a Zionist and became a head of state, just like Harry S Truman.

The Arab League was startled, too. The British packed their kit bags and hauled down the Union Jack and departed in the night. And so it began, 56 years ago, the Palestinians concentrated into camps that still exist today, festering wounds, while the survivors of other camps planted the desert and made it bloom.

Two generations have risen from the camps, and they too are committed to make the desert bloom, but in a different way, awful crimson and black.

It affects the way people behave. Nowadays they think about going out, and a drink at a sidewalk café has become an act of defiance.

I was not defiant the last time I was in Jerusalem. I was tired. I did not sleep the time I was in Israel. There was too little time for it, and too much to do.

We had to push to get to the Armenian Quarter before the shop-keepers began to lock up at noon. The leaders of the Intifada insisted on the closing, though there were whispers to us as we walked in the narrow streets to come in behind the shutters and negotiate.

We bought some tourist crap and headed for the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock.

If you want it stark and clear, the graceful Dome is why there isr be an answer to this. It is going to take reasonable people who do not like explosives. Our driver got us on to the precinct of the Mosque, showed the soldiers his pistol, and we walked into the sacred precinct.

But of course it holy tfor different reasons. This is the blessed spot where Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was brought by night and from which he ascended through the heavens to his Lord.

He was joined by Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and the angel Gabriel gave Muhammad the choice of a flagon of wine and milk. The Prophet chose the milk, and in my estimation, that has made all the difference. If the Muslims drank beer…oh, never mind. So many chances, so much rancor.

Work on the graceful dome began in 685. We could see dignified men in robes guarding the door to the shrine. We were welcome to remove our shoes and see the altar of Abraham, if we wished, and the footprint where the Prophet launched himself to Heaven.

But our guide seemed to resent the mosque. Perhaps it was because the Syrians had killed his son four years earlier in southern Lebanon.

The Mount is also the site of Solomon's First Temple, and the Second build by Herod. Not that you could tell. The Believers have very efficiently removed all trace of that, and those that venerate them must make do with the remaining bits of foundation on the west side of the hill.

We admonished by a devout man for talking when we looked at the ancient stones with the little paper supplications wedged in the cracks. We were being irreverent by his lights. I did not have a dog in that particular fight, and when we returned to the car park we discovered the vehicle had been trashed. It was identifiable as a Jewish car by the tag on the license plate, and hence a target.

Papers had to be filed. I asked if we could be dropped off at the King David Hotel while we waited.

The King David is located in the heart of the city, overlooking the ancient walls of the Old City. They say this is where people who make history rub shoulders with people who come to see it made.

We were among the latter, although this early in the day it was not a complete certainty.

The King David is a luxurious place of the Empire School. It's stone walls were designed to harmonize with those of the ancient city walls. It now offers 237 rooms, including 37 luxury suites, 1 Presidential and 1 Royal Suite, in case the King of England or the Ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom, keeper of the Holy Places stops by.

It wasn't always laid out that way. After the end of World War Two it was the Bachelor Officer's Quarters for the Royal Army, which was enforcing the White Paper of 1939. The Officers liked the Orient Bar, which is where we were splashing a little Schweppes on top of gin.

The Hotel had also been the site of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division. The Zionists chose it as a target after British troops invaded the Jewish Agency June 29, 1946, and confiscated large quantities of documents. The Brits rounded up 2,500 Jews from all over the Transjordan. They were backpeddling like crazy on the Balfour Declaration of 1917 that had supported the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in the Palestine.

The captured documents were taken to the Hotel, where they were scrutinized for evidence of Jewish intelligence activities in Arab countries.

They say that ben-Gurion himself authorized the operation from exile in Europe. Young Menachem Begin gave the green light on the scene, which was conducted with precision on July 22, 1946.

Three warning calls were made, but it appears the British ignored them. The attackers dressed themselves as milkmen and carried high explosives in milk cans through the kitchen and into the basement. A soldier tried to stop them, but he was shot down.

The attackers ran away. It was noon and the Orient Bar was packed when the bombs went off.

Ninety-one died, and 45 were wounded. A year and a half later, the State of Israel came into existence.

We enjoyed our mid-day drinks at the King David Hotel. Here, everything made perfect sense.