ALSO BY SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
NONFICTION
Young Stalin
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
Potemkin: Catherine the Great’s Imperial Partner
FICTION
Sashenka
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 2011 by Simon Sebag Montefiore
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronoto.
www.aaknopf.com
Originally published in hardcover in a slightly different form in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Ltd., an Hachette Livre UK Company.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Some portions of this work were originally published in The Sunday Times Magazine, London.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sebag Montefiore, Simon, [date]
Jerusalem : the biography / by Simon Sebag Montefiore. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
“This Is a Borzoi Book”—T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-59448-8
1. Jerusalem—History. I. Title.
DS109.9.S37 2011
956.94’420099—dc23 2011020827
Jacket image: Jerusalem in Her Grandeur, engraved by Charles Motta, after Henry Courtney Selous. Private collection. The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images.
Jacket design by Darren Haggar
v3.1
To my darling daughter
Lily Bathsheba
The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more; it is the history of heaven and earth.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Tancred
The city has been destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt again. Jerusalem is an old nymphomaniac who squeezes lover after lover to death, before shrugging him off her with a yawn, a black widow who devours her mates while they are still penetrating her.
AMOS OZ, A Tale of Love and Darkness
The Land of Israel is the centre of the world; Jerusalem is the centre of the Land; the Holy Temple is the centre of Jerusalem; the Holy of Holies is the centre of the Holy Temple; the Holy Ark is the centre of the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone from which the world was established is before the Holy Ark.
MIDRASH TANHUMA, Kedoshim 10
The sanctuary of the earth is Syria; the sanctuary of Syria is Palestine; the sanctuary of Palestine is Jerusalem; the sanctuary of Jerusalem is the Mount; the sanctuary of the Mount is the place of worship; the sanctuary of the place of worship is the Dome of the Rock.
THAUR IBN YAZID, Fadail
Jerusalem is the most illustrious of cities. Still Jerusalem has some disadvantages. Thus it is reported “Jerusalem is a golden goblet full of scorpions.”
MUQADDASI, Description of Syria, Including Palestine
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
List of Illustrations
Lists of Family Trees
Lists of Maps
Preface
Notes on Names, Transliterations and Titles
Prologue
PART ONE: JUDAISM
1 The World of David
2 The Rise of David
3 The Kingdom and the Temple
4 The Kings of Judah
5 The Whore of Babylon
6 The Persians
7 The Macedonians
8 The Maccabees
9 The Romans Arrive
10 The Herods
11 Jesus Christ
12 The Last of the Herods
13 Jewish Wars: The Death of Jerusalem
PART TWO: PAGANISM
14 Aelia Capitolina
PART THREE: CHRISTIANITY
15 The Apogee of Byzantium
16 Sunset of the Byzantines: Persian Invasion
PART FOUR: ISLAM
17 The Arab Conquest
18 The Umayyads: The Temple Restored
19 The Abbasids: Distant Masters
20 The Fatimids: Tolerance and Lunacy
PART FIVE: CRUSADE
21 The Slaughter
22 The Rise of Outremer
23 The Golden Age of Outremer
24 Stalemate
25 The Leper-King
26 Saladin
27 The Third Crusade: Saladin and Richard
28 The Saladin Dynasty
PART SIX: MAMLUK
29 Slave to Sultan
30 Decline of the Mamluks
PART SEVEN: OTTOMAN
31 The Magnificence of Suleiman
32 Mystics and Messiahs
33 The Families
PART EIGHT: EMPIRE
34 Napoleon in the Holy Land
35 The New Romantics: Chateaubriand and Disraeli
36 The Albanian Conquest
37 The Evangelists
38 The New City
39 The New Religion
40 Arab City, Imperial City
41 Russians
PART NINE: ZIONISM
42 The Kaiser
43 The Oud-Player of Jerusalem
44 World War
45 Arab Revolt, Balfour Declaration
46 The Christmas Present
47 The Victors and the Spoils
48 The British Mandate
49 The Arab Revolt
50 The Dirty War
51 Jewish Independence, Arab Catastrophe
52 Divided
53 Six Days
Epilogue
Illustrations
Family Trees
Maps
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Additional Images
Illustrations
SECTION ONE
ill.1 Aerial view of the Temple Mount (Albatross/Topfoto)
ill.2 Tel Dan stele, c. 850 BC (Zev Radovan)
ill.3 Ivory pomegranate, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.4 Section of Hezekiah’s wall (AKG)
ill.5 The Siloam inscription, c. 700 BC, Istanbul Archaeological Museum (AKG)
ill.6 Detail of relief from the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh (AKG)
ill.7 Detail of relief from the Treasury of the Palace of Persepolis (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.7 Coin discovered near Jericho, c. 333 BC (Zev Radovan)
ill.8 Silver tetradrachm of Ptolemy I Soter, c. 300 BC, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.8 Silver tetradrachm of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, c. 175 BC, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.9 Judah the Maccabee (author’s collection)
ill.10 Silver denarius of Mark Antony and of Cleopatra VII (The Trustees of the British Museum)
ill.11 Reconstruction of the Second Temple, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.12 Ossuary of “Simon the builder of the Sanctuary” (AKG)
ill.12 Greek inscription from the Temple, c. 50 BC, Istanbul Archaeological Museum (AKG)
ill.13 South-eastern corner of Herodian wall encircling the Temple Mount (Zev Radovan)
ill.14 The Crucifixion, Hubert van Eyck, Ca’ d’Oro, Venice (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.15 Coin of Herod Antipas, c. AD 4–39, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.16 Coin of Herod Agrippa I, c. AD 43–39, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.17a Head of Titus, first century AD, Louvre Museum, Paris (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.17b Skeletal arm of young woman, AD 67 (Zev Radovan)
ill.17b Rocks at the
foot of the Wall, Jerusalem (author’s photograph)
ill.17c Detail from the Arch of Titus, Rome (AKG)
ill.17c Coin minted to commemorate victory over Judaea, AD 81 (Zev Radovan)
ill.18 Bronze bust of Hadrian, c. 135, Israel Museum (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.19 Silver coin issued by Simon bar Kochba, c. 132–5, Israel Museum (AKG)
ill.20 Fourth-century pilgrim graffiti, Church of the Holy Sepulchre (AKG)
ill.21 Colossal head of Constantine the Great, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome (AKG)
SECTION TWO
ill.22 Marble statue of Julian the Apostate, 362, Louvre Museum, Paris (AKG)
ill.23 Justinian I and his retinue, c. 550, San Vitale, Ravenna (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.23 Theodora and her retinue, c. 550, San Vitale, Ravenna (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.24 Mosaic map of Palestine, Madaba (AKG)
ill.25 The Golden Gate (author’s photograph)
ill.26 Ascension of Muhammad, from a manuscript of Nizami’s poem “Khamza,” 1539–43, British Library (AKG)
ill.27 Umayyad dynasty gold dinar showing Abd al-Malik (The Trustees of the British Museum)
ill.28 The Dome of the Rock (AKG)
ill.29 Interior of the Dome of the Rock (Garo Nalbandian)
ill.30 The looting of Jerusalem in 1099, illuminated miniature from a universal chronicle, Jean de Courcy, Bibliotéque Nationale, Paris (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.31 Baldwin I crosses the Jordan, illumination from Roman de Godefroi de Bouillon, Bibliotéque Nationale, Paris (AKG)
ill.32 Medieval map of Jerusalem from Robert the Monk’s Chronicle of the Crusades (Corbis)
ill.33 Melisende marrying Fulk of Anjou from the Histoire de la conquete de Jerusalem by William of Tyre, Bibliotéque Nationale, Paris (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.34 Melisende’s Psalter, c. 1131–43, British Library (AKG)
ill.35 Baldwin IV and William of Tyre, illumination from Histoire de Outremer by William of Tyre, British Library (AKG)
ill.36 Portrait of Saladin, British Library (Bridgeman Art Library)
ill.37 Frederick II entering Jerusalem, 1227, Vatican Library (AKG)
ill.38 The Dome of Ascension (AKG)
ill.38 Entrance to the Market of the Cotton Merchants (author’s collection)
ill.38 Qaitbay fountain (AKG)
ill.39 Suleiman I, portrait attributed to school of Titian, c. 1530, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (AKG)
ill.40 Fountain of the Gate of the Chain (AKG)
ill.40 Detail from the exterior mosaics of the Dome of the Rock (Corbis)
ill.41 Engraving of Sabbatai Zevi (AKG)
SECTION THREE
ill.42 Ibrahim Pasha, Charles-Philippe Larivière, Museum of French History at the Palace of Versailles (RMN)
ill.43 Greek Church of the Holy Sepulchre, David Roberts, 1839 (AKG)
ill.44 Sir Moses Montefiore (author’s collection)
ill.44 Montefiore windmill and cottages (Mishkenot Sha’ananim)
ill.45 Photograph of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Patriarch Yessayi, 1861 (Armenian Partriarchate)
ill.46 A group of Yemenite Jews (American Colony)
ill.46 A group of Ashkenazi Jews, 1885, Hulton Archive (Getty)
ill.47 Crowd of Russian pilgrims at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (American Colony)
ill.47 King David Street, Granger Collection (Topfoto)
ill.48 Theodor Herzl and his family, Hulton Archive (Getty)
ill.48 Kaiser Wilhelm II in Jerusalem, 1889, Hulton Archive (Getty)
ill.49 The kaiser at the Tomb of Kings (American Colony)
ill.50 Bertha Spafford and other members of the American Colony with Bedouin friends, 1902 (American Colony)
ill.51 Hussein Selim al-Husseini (American Colony)
ill.52 Montagu Parker (Morley family archives)
ill.53 Wasif Jawhariyyeh (Institute for Palestine Studies)
ill.54 Jemal Pasha, 1915 (American Colony)
ill.54 Turkish executions in Jerusalem (Mary Evans Picture Library)
ill.55 Chaim Weizmann, 1918
ill.55 David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, 1910 (Getty)
ill.55 T. E. Lawrence on the governor’s balcony, 1920 (Getty)
ill.56 The mayor of Jerusalem surrenders the city, 1917 (Getty)
ill.57 Fourth of July reception at the American Colony (American Colony)
ill.58 Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Amir Abdullah in the gardens of Government House, 1921, Matson Photograph Collection (Library of Congress, Washington, DC)
ill.59 Investiture by the Duke of Connaught in Barracks Square (American Colony)
ill.60 Group outside Government House, 1924 (Israel State Archive)
SECTION FOUR
ill.61 King Hussein and Musa Kazem al Husseini in Jerusalem, 1923 (Library of Congress, Washington, DC)
ill.62 King Faisal and Amir Abdullah surrounded by students, 1931, Matson Photograph Collection (Library of Congress, Washington, DC)
ill.63 David Ben-Gurion, 1924 (Mary Evans Picture Library)
ill.63 Mufti Amin al-Husseini at the Nabi Musa festival, 1937 (Keystone Press, France)
ill.64 Holy Fire ceremony, 1941, Matson Photograph Collection (Library of Congress, Washington, DC)
ill.65 Prayers at the Western Wall, 1944 (Central Zionist Archives)
ill.66 Asmahan (Getty)
ill.67 Mufti Amin al-Husseini meets Adolf Hitler, 1941 (AKG)
ill.67 Abd al-Kadir al-Husseini, 1940s (Associated Press)
ill.68 Abd al-Kadir al-Husseini’s funeral procession, 1948 (Government Press Office, State of Israel)
ill.69 Bombing of the King David Hotel (author’s collection)
ill.69 Katy Antonius (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs)
ill.69a Jerusalem in smoke during the Arab–Israeli War, 28 May 1948 (Mary Evans Picture Library)
ill.70 Arab soldiers escorting a Jewish prisoner, 1 June 1948, Time and Life Pictures (Getty)
ill.70 Jewish girl fleeing from burning buildings, 28 May 1948, Time and Life Pictures (Getty)
ill.71 Arab troops behind sandbag barricades, 1 June 1948 (AKG)
ill.72a King Abdullah with crowds in Jerusalem, 1 July 1948 (Getty)
ill.72b The scene in al-Aqsa mosque after King Abdullah’s assassination, 20 July 1951 (Associated Press)
ill.72c King Hussein of Jordan, 29 July 1967 (Associated Press)
ill.73a Yitzhak Rabin and Moshe Dayan during an Israeli cabinet meeting, 1967 (Micha Bar Am/Magnum Photos)
ill.73b Israeli paratroopers and tanks advancing to Lions’ Gate, 7 June 1967 (Avner Offer)
ill.74 Israeli soldiers praying at the Western Wall, 7 June 1967 (Cornell Capa/Magnum Photos)
ill.74 The sheikh in charge of the mosques on the Temple Mount, 7 June 1967 (Micha Bar Am/Magnum Photos)
ill.74 Israeli troops making their way towards al-Aqsa (Micha Bar Am/Magnum Photos)
ill.74 Israeli paratroopers at the Dome of the Rock (Avner Offer)
Family Trees
The Maccabees: Kings and High Priests, 160–37 BC
The Herods, 37 BC–AD 100
The Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic Caliphs and Dynasties
Crusader Kings of Jerusalem, 1099–1291
The Hashemite (Sherifian) Dynasty, 1916–
Maps
The Kingdom of David and Solomon, and the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 1000–586 BC
The Empires, 586 BC–AD 1683
Jerusalem in the First Century AD and Jesus’ Passion
The Crusader Kingdoms, 1098–1489
Mamluk and Ottoman Jerusalem, 1260–1917
The Sykes-Picot Plan, 1916
Sherif Hussein’s Imperial Dream, 1916
UN Plan, 1947
Israel Since 1948
Jerusalem: The Old City
Jerusalem in the Early Twentieth Century
Preface
The his
tory of Jerusalem is the history of the world, but it is also the chronicle of an often penurious provincial town amid the Judaean hills. Jerusalem was once regarded as the centre of the world and today that is more true than ever: the city is the focus of the struggle between the Abrahamic religions, the shrine for increasingly popular Christian, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalism, the strategic battlefield of clashing civilizations, the front line between atheism and faith, the cynosure of secular fascination, the object of giddy conspiracism and internet myth-making, and the illuminated stage for the cameras of the world in the age of twenty-four-hour news. religious, political and media interest feed on each other to make Jerusalem more intensely scrutinized today than ever before.
Jerusalem is the Holy City, yet it has always been a den of superstition, charlatanism and bigotry; the desire and prize of empires, yet of no strategic value; the cosmopolitan home of many sects, each of which believes the city belongs to them alone; a city of many names—yet each tradition is so sectarian it excludes any other. This is a place of such delicacy that it is described in Jewish sacred literature in the feminine—always a sensual, living woman, always a beauty, but sometimes a shameless harlot, sometimes a wounded princess whose lovers have forsaken her. Jerusalem is the house of the one God, the capital of two peoples, the temple of three religions and she is the only city to exist twice—in heaven and on earth: the peerless grace of the terrestrial is as nothing to the glories of the celestial. The very fact that Jerusalem is both terrestrial and celestial means that the city can exist anywhere: new Jerusalems have been founded all over the world and everyone has their own vision of Jerusalem. Prophets and patriarchs, Abraham, David, Jesus and Muhammad are said to have trodden these stones. The Abrahamic religions were born there and the world will also end there on the Day of Judgement. Jerusalem, sacred to the Peoples of the Book, is the city of the Book: the Bible is, in many ways, Jerusalem’s own chronicle and its readers, from the Jews and early Christians via the Muslim conquerors and the Crusaders to today’s American evangelists, have repeatedly altered her history to fulfil biblical prophecy.
When the Bible was translated into Greek then Latin and English, it became the universal book and it made Jerusalem the universal city. Every great king became a David, every special people were the new Israelites and every noble civilization a new Jerusalem, the city that belongs to no one and exists for everyone in their imagination. And this is the city’s tragedy as well as her magic: every dreamer of Jerusalem, every visitor in all ages from Jesus’ Apostles to Saladin’s soldiers, from Victorian pilgrims to today’s tourists and journalists, arrives with a vision of the authentic Jerusalem and then is bitterly disappointed by what they find, an ever-changing city that has thrived and shrunk, been rebuilt and destroyed many times. But since this is Jerusalem, property of all, only their image is the right one; the tainted, synthetic reality must be changed; everyone has the right to impose their “Jerusalem” on Jerusalem—and, with sword and fire, they often have.