Six months ago, the United Nations voted to divide the British possession Palestine into two nations, an Arab State and a Jewish State. Now on May 14, 1948, the British depart Jerusalem, leaving behind Jews accompanied by some Christians fighting with Moslems to control DavidĘs ancient city.

For German Jew Jacob Kalner it means risking his life for a cause he believes in after spending the World War II years in a German prison even as his wife Lori serves as a nurse. Moshe Sachar is willing to die to defend Zion Gate and the Jewish Quarter while his spouse travels from Tel Aviv to join him. On the other side of the war, Moslems claim a Jihad as fighting and chaos intensifies over the next five days. Meanwhile, two young Arab orphans Daoud and Gawan travel the beleaguered city in search of survival.

JERSUALEM VIGIL is a well-written work of historical fiction that chronicles what happened in Jerusalem during the first five days starting with the British departure from the Holy Land. The exciting story line is intense, showing the research and ability of the authors to make a bygone era come to life. However, the Moslem side is stereotyped as fanatic cowards while the Jewish side is treated as heroic as the biblical characters in epic stories. This leaves an obvious historiographic imprint and bias in this tale but it also helps to understand how difficult it is to attain a lasting Middle East peace over fifty years later.

Harriet Klausner