“I thought it best to preface the account of the battle for Jerusalem with a description of life in a city where most of the territory had been severed and alienated during the armistice following the War of Independence. This is to convey how Jewish residents felt in a legendary city that had emerged as a unified whole, only to be divided in 1948 when our capital found itself in a deadlock, partitioned between Jews and Arabs. I sought to depict the daily life of Jews in the Holy City, steeped in history, and to show a people who refused to accept the present and prayed for the restoration of its former unity. I also wanted to recount the actions of those responsible for securing this exceptionally vulnerable municipality, where conventional solutions were entirely inadequate to the situation.”