"Within these walls lies a mystical city... an ancient promise of peace so desired that man has warred over it for thousands of years." "Over the centuries its walls have been reddened by the blood of Jebusites and Jews," "Babylonians and Persians armies of Arabs, Crusaders," "Ottoman TurKs, and the British Empire." "Sacred city of the soul for one third of the earth's people, through the millennia it has drawn mankind to itself like a magnet." "To all who live, work, and visit here, this is more than a city;" "it is a haven the fulfillment of some dream or prophecy the legacy of generations who have gone before." "For this man and his family, coming here was the consummation of a promise made," "2,000 years ago." "This man came here as an orphaned boy and found a miniature version of his lost nation." "The dark shadow of Hitler's armies advancing across Europe drove this man on a path that led to the discovery of his roots in the very earth beneath his home." "The magnetism of the city's Holy Places is so strong that this man risked losing his own family to come here." "Proud inheritor of a name that has lived in this city for 1,300 years, this man's life bridges past and future." "From near and far they have come, searching for refuge, for their pasts, and the meaning of the present." "Three thousand years of vibrant history, hope, and belief are rooted here within the walls of Jerusalem." "Jerusalem, within these walls in the tiny enclave that is the Old City, some of the greatest dramas in the history of mankind have been enacted." "This is a story of that city crucible of the world's three great monotheistic religions... symbol of peace in an area of turmoil and upheaval." "It is a story of peoples of profoundly different cultures who struggle to maintain those differences people who have fought each other, but now live side by side in sometimes uneasy coexistence." "Jews from around the world pray at the Western Wall vestige of the Second Temple... object of Jewish yearning and prayer for 2,000 years." "Here, built on the sites where tradition says Jesus spent His last moments on earth, was crucified and entombed, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre." "Most holy of shrines in the Christian world, this church has attracted pilgrims since the time of Constantine the Great." "In the walls of their ancient quarter," "Armenians strive to preserve the heritage of a vanished Kingdom... in their lives... and in the hearts and minds of their younger generation." "Consecrated under this Dome is the sacred rock where, tradition says, abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac... over which the ancient temples of the Jews were built... from which, Muslims proclaim," "Muhammad journeyed to heaven." "This tumult of people and history intersects in the labyrinth of the ancient bazaars." "Wrapped around the venerable city like the setting for an exotic jewel are the walls retaining traces of the eras of ing Herod, the Romans, and Crusaders... last rebuilt by Suleiman the Magnificent 400 years ago." "Outside the walls, there is the twentieth century, the new city of Jerusalem, and the administrative center of the nation of Israel." "Inside is a city believed by medieval man to be the center of the Universe, a city Known to more people for a longer time than any other on earth." "Here, the heart of historic Jerusalem still beats." "Its ethnic-religious quarters cling to the sites that give them life:" "The Dome of the rock:" "Third holiest place of Islamic pilgrimage after Mecca and Medina and focal point of the Muslim Quarter... the Western Wall Known as the Wailing Wall... symbol of the Jewish Quarter... the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, core of the Christian Quarter that has grown around it... the Cathedral of St. James," "spiritual center of the Armenian Quarter." "Twenty-six thousand souls make their home in the Old City, packed into an area of less than one square mile." "Their story began 3,000 years ago, when ing David bought the threshing floor on this hill as the site for the temple of the Jew's one God." "Having subdued the Jebusites, he transformed their city into the capital of the United ingdom of Israel and thrust Jerusalem center stage in a drama that continues to this day." "Once a royal center of impressive structures and massive fortifications, the City of David has begun to reveal its past to archeologists under the direction of Dr. Yigal Shiloh of the Hebrew University." ""David made this city more important than others by choosing this location to become the capital of Judea at the south and Israel at the north."" "The residential area of David's capital probably looked much like this village of today." "Urbanization undoubtedly began here because of the presence of the Spring of Gihon a constant source of water." "At the end of the eighth century B.C., anticipating an attack by the Assyrians, ing HezeKiah ordered this tunnel built." ""Why should the Kings of Assyria come and find much water?"" "asks the Bible in Second Chronicles Cut deep underground, the tunnel carried the water nearly 1,800 feet from the spring outside the wall to a point inside the city." ""This system was done by King HezeKiah as it is described in the Bible and the inscription that was found at the southern end of the tunnel."" "The city survived the siege of the Assyrians." "But in 586 B.C., Babylonian forces burned Jerusalem, massacred thousands, and exiled the enslaved survivors." "Archeologists have uncovered poignant reminders of those who once lived here, including clay seals bearing names of people mentioned in the Bible." "The lament of the exiles echoes through history:" ""If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning... let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy!"" "A half century later, the Persians defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return." "The Second Temple rose on the site of the first." "This model depicts Jerusalem as it was when Jesus came here to celebrate the festival of Passover." "Although He Knew the repressive Roman rulers had labeled Him a rebel," "He continued to preach brotherhood Kindness, and charity." "In the last days before His Crucifixion," "Jesus left the temple by these steps." "They are on of the few remnants that remain for in 70 A. D., on the anniversary of the day the Babylonians had sacked the First Temple, the Romans burned the city butchered the people, and took the rest as slaves." "Thus was Jerusalem destroyed for a second time." "Six hundred years later according to Muslim belief," "Muhammad departed for the throne of God from the sacred rock of Jerusalem where the temple had stood." "Aware of the Holy books of the Jews and Christians," "Muhammad had converted the idolatrous tribes of Arabia to the concept of one God." "Only six years after his death, an army of his followers stood at Jerusalem's gates, claiming the city as their own." "Muslims were to rule Jerusalem for the next 1,300 years." "Except for two interruptions when the Crusaders wrested the city from them." "In the 20th century, the flame of war again flared in the Holy Land." "World War I:" "The British march into Palestine to fight the Ottoman TurKs." "As it has some 20 times in its recorded history, in 1917 Jerusalem falls." "The Holy City is surrendered to the British." "Mindful that Jesus had walked into Jerusalem," "General Sir Edmund Allenby humbly enters Jaffa Gate on foot." "There are renewed stirrings of Zionism, the concept of a modern Jewish nation" "In 1947, the United Nations votes to end the British Mandate and partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states." "May 14, 1948:" "David Ben-Gurion citing"... the fulfillment of the dream of generations,"" "makes a proclamation Jews everywhere have long awaited:" ""The State of Israel has arisen."" "The next day, six neighboring Arab countries invade, determined to crush the infant nation before it is born." "With Jerusalem under siege and the Jewish Quarter ready to fall, the Holy books are removed." "Jerusalem is a divided city." "For 19 years the Old City will be ruled by Jordan." "In 1967, as the Six Day War rages," "Israeli paratroopers storm through St. Stephen's Gate." "Defense Minister Moshe Dayan arrives at the Western Wall... in Jewish hands again for the first time in 2,000 years." "According to ancient custom," "General Dayan writes a prayer to place in the wall:" ""May peace come to the Jewish people."" "Today, a fragile peace reigns in the Walled City." "The Supreme Muslim Council has remained in charge of the Dome of the rock the Israelis reclaimed the Western Wall, cherished relic of their lost temple." "Jews from more than one hundred cultural backgrounds have come to live in their ancient capital." "Many are AshKenazi, from Europe and the Americas;" "the rest, Sephardic and Oriental Jews, are from Mediterranean regions, the Middle and Far East." "When the Jewish community in Yemen heard of the establishment of Israel," "Joseph ZadoK and his family decided to emigrate immediately." "For them, the Biblical prophecy of the return to Zion was fulfilled." "His grandson, Shalom, explains:" ""My family Knew from the Bible and from our tradition that Jerusalem was the Holy City." "When my family came from Yemen, they wanted to live only in Jerusalem." "We call it center of the world."" "Isolated in remote southern Arabia for some 2,000 years, persecuted by their Muslim rulers, the Jews of Yemen had long dreamed of redemption in the promised land." "They clung to their beliefs, and Kept the ancient observances in their purest form." "Now, celebrating Passover, the ZadoKs commemorate the Jew's deliverance from slavery in Egypt, just ad Jesus did at what has come to be Known as "The Last Supper."" "The Bible promised "They that wait upon the Lord... shall mount up with wings as eagles."" "In 1949 the ZadoKs joined the flood of Jews crossing hundred of miles of desert on foot, donkey back, and by truck to Aden." "Those who survived the torturous journey were flown to the Holy Land by an airlift dubbed "Operation Magic Carpet."" "Restricted to certain occupations in Yemen, many Jews were shoemakers weavers, jewelers." "Joseph ZadoK was a court jeweler for the ing of Yemen." ""Our family has been making jewelry for more than seven generations." "It is our heritage, our tradition." "When we came from Yemen, we tried to Keep our traditions."" ""Most of the Yemenite brides in Jerusalem use our wedding dress and jewelry."" "The bride, of European ancestry, carries on her groom's family tradition." "She wears the elaborate jewelry and costume the ZaKods lend to bridal parties for a ceremony called the "hineh"" "that accompanied every Jewish wedding in Yemen." "The henna from which the festivity derives its name has long been used as a talisman of good luck." "If the henna applied to the hands of the bride and groom remains in the morning, their wedding will take place." "Mr. ZadoK, a relative of the groom, is here to bestow a blessing." "Beginning a life together, this young couple shares the rich heritage of their combined European," "Oriental, and Israeli cultures." "During the Jordanian occupation of the Old City, the Jewish Quarter had been nearly destroyed." "When reconstruction began after the War of '67," "Theo and Miriam Siebenberg were the third family to build here." ""It was my dream to come to Jerusalem." "Jewis have been praying for Jerusalem throughout the centuries, for thousands of years, going back even to the time of the exile in Babylon."" ""The Jewish Quarter is full of our history from 3,000 years ago." "When we came, the Jewish Quarter was completely destroyed, and now everything is built and clean." "The changes were immense."" ""I was born in Antwerp, Belgium." "My family left Antwerp on May 11, 1940 that's one day after the Germans marched into Belgium."" "As the Nazi horror swept across Europe, the Siebenberg family fled..." "first by car, finally even crossing mountains on foot" "Always fearful and in hiding, for months the refugees traveled against the tide of invaders until they made their way to safety." "After the war, as the Jewish people struggled to create a homeland," "Theo joined the underground." "Eventually, he made his way here." "like all Jews born in Israel," "Miriam is Known as a "sabra."" ""My parents came from Warsaw, Poland." "I was born in Tel Aviv and I went to regular school and then the high school." "And after high school I went to the army, like all the sabras in Israel did." "I thought I'd never leave the army," "I liked it so much."" "Miriam and Theo met at a party 20 years ago." "Today they often entertain visiting dignitaries, drawn by the remarkable discoveries the Siebenbergs have unearthed." "When Theo and Miriam completed their house in 1970, archeologists were digging all around them in the Jewish Quarter." "Fired by the dramatic finds being made," "Siebenberg determined to build a museum beneath his home." "As workmen removed 3,000 years of accumulated debris, tangible links with those who had lived on this site through the millennia began to emerge." ""These stones here are each made out of one large block of stone." "They are sections actually of the aqueduct the passed here 2,000 years ago and which brought water into the city of Jerusalem."" ""Now this is a mikvah or Jewish ritual bath, which is 2,000 years old and belonged to the mansion which stood above here." "And of course that was a three-floor-high house."" "The home probably burned when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 A. D." ""Now if you look down here, these rooms that you see down below..."" ""...they were hewn out of solid rock about 3,000 years ago." "That's roughly ing Solomon's time." "The openings that you see here were called a nefesh, or the soul."" ""The soul would actually rise out of these openings, and there was on top of this a pyramid-shaped stone structure, which was the permanent abode of the soul."" "For Theo Siebenberg, each discovery provided palpable contact with the past and his people." ""Actually we're four floors under the house now." "I find this probably the most exciting part of the excavation." "Actually we're standing in a room which goes back thousands of years, and you can almost feel the presence of the people who lived here at that time you Know, ing Solomon's time ing David's time."" ""This is a machine gun which was used in the war of Independence in 1948."" ""The same week I found this I was excavating three floors lower at the other end of the site, and I found..." this arrowhead in the war against the Romans in the year 70 of the Common Era."" ""So you have this whole span of..."" ""Of wars." "Right."" "Absorbed by his passion," "Theo has spent fifteen years and three million dollars creating Siebenberg House, the museum he and Miriam will leave to the public." ""This was used 2,000 years ago for crucifixion." "When you thinK of it..." "Now take this inkwell." "You wonder what letters might have been written by the owner of the house..."" "These artifacts will enable future generations to experience their connections to ancient Jerusalem." ""This here actually is carbonized wood from the fire of this house 2,000 years ago when the house was destroyed."" ""Don't touch it too often." "I see your fingers peeling if off"" ""Traces of history"" "Fifty years after the armies of Islam burst like a thunderclap across the desert to claim Jerusalem, a Muslim caliph built a shrine over the holy rock from which Muhammad had ascended to the Celestial Spheres." "This magnificent legacy has drawn the faithful for more than a thousand years." "Now, during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting and atonement, thousands of pilgrims journey to the Old City for one of the Islamic world's most important religious observances." "When prayers are over, the throng disperses through the narrow alleyways of the Muslim Quarter." "The family of halil halidi has lived in the Holy Land since the day 1,300 years ago when his ancestor rode into Jerusalem at the head of a column of Islamic warriors." "Halil has a shop in the Muslim Quarter where he repairs furniture and antiques." "He specializes in mother-of-pearl inlay." "His neighbor, a blind oud player stops by to pick up the instrument that halil has repaired for him." "Through the centuries, his family has provided a succession of scholars to Jerusalem's Muslim community." "Among their proudest achievements and possessions is the halidi Library." "Founded in 1900, it consists of their combined private collections:" "6,000 book and manuscripts in Arabic," "Persian, English, French, and turkish." "Halil's uncle and cousin refer to one of the many volumes written by their ancestors." ""My family came to Jerusalem with the Islamic liberation in the year 636 B.C., 15 Hegira." "My family lived in Jerusalem all its time, but they were forced to Nablus for 88 years when the Crusaders occupied the city." ""They came back to Jerusalem with the famous Islamic leader," "Saladin al Ayubib." "They were the political and the religious rulers of Jerusalem."" "With his cousin he examines their remarkable family tree." "Each week halil goes to the historic Muslim cemetery outside the city walls." ""At the cemetery I go to pray for my ancestor Muhammad Ali halidi." "He was the governor of Jerusalem in the year 1808." "When I go to visit his tomb," "I feel that I am standing in front of a great man with deep roots in this country."" "During the month of Ramadan the Muslim Quarter pulse with activity after sundown." "Here, where ties are old deep, friend and family gather to commemorate their ancestors at a mawlid." "Songs celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad are followed by a sumptuous meal, ending the fast they have observed since sunrise." "Within the walls of the Old City the ancient traditions resonate across the ages, binding the people of the present with their treasured past." "Ironically, it was a Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who adopted Christianity as the faith of his realm and assured the future of the religion." "His mother, the Empress Helena, journeyed here three centuries after Christ's death." "Over the sites where she believed Jesus had been crucified and buried," "Constantine erected the Church of the Holy Sepulchre." "Today the church is shared by six Christian sects:" "greek, Armenian, Ethiopian and Syrian Orthodox," "Roman Catholic, and Coptic." "The Copts have a tiny chapel at the back of Christ's tomb;" "the front chapel belongs to the greek Orthodox." "Among their holdings is the stone where Jesus is thought to have lain when He was taken from the cross." "Over the rock of Calvary where Jesus was crucified the greek Orthodox maintain a chapel." "Deep in the church near the base of the rock of Cavalry is an Armenian Orthodox chapel dedicated to St. Helena." "Medieval pilgrims etched tiny crosses in the walls leading to the place where Helena found what she thought was the true Cross." "Painted on the bedrock is a ship with the Latin inscription" ""O Lord, we arrived."" "It indicates that long before this church was built pilgrims journeyed here, believing this to be the site of the Crucifixion." "A mud hut village atop the roof of the church is the only area which the Ethiopian Orthodox, one of the oldest Christian communities in the Holy Land, can claim." "Control of even this modest outpost is disputed in legal wrangles that began in Ottoman times." "Tense rivalries between sects have long raged over rights to this most sacred of Christian shrines." "Cloistered behind protective walls, the greek Orthodox Patriarchate grew up next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre." "Its monasteries, chapels, and administrative offices form a body comparable to a miniature Vatican." "As a boy, Father Timothy felt irresistibly drawn to join the monks who serve here." ""I decided to join the brotherhood because I like the aims that the brothers have in front of them, to safeguard the Holy Places, to venerate them, to have them ready for every Christian to come also and venerate."" "Chief Secretary of the Patriarchate and private secretary to the Patriarch," "Father Timothy recalls the path that led him here." ""When I was 14 years old, a priest came once to preach about Jerusalem." "For me that was the turning point of my life." "I said," "'Jerusalem is the place I am going to be a priest.'" "My parents wouldn't even listen to that." "At last I said, 'lf you are not going to help me," "I will never call you mother and father again.'" "Finally they decided to sign my passport." "Then I came here." "I said to myself that I should stay in Jerusalem for life." "I feel deeply every moment in Jerusalem that my life is connected with the life of Jesus."" "Timothy attended the seminary as a young man;" "like this generation of seminarians, he left his native land to dedicate his life to the holy shrines of Jerusalem." "Each of his days begins and ends in prayer his rededication to the compelling forces that induced him to come to the Holy City." ""Jerusalem is the city which fills my heart and should fill the hearts of all Christians with love and peace." "It would be easy to be a priest in my country, but here in Jerusalem I feel closer to God."" "Sequestered behind a huge gate that is unlocked each morning and locked again each night, the Armenian Quarter has existed for nearly a thousand years." "Life within still centers around the 12th-century Cathedral of Saint James." "A reminder of the days when the Muslim rulers forbade the ringing of church bells, the striking of this plank announces services." "Today the community gathers to commemorate a holocaust." "For the Armenians are a people whose ancient homeland has been ravaged, many of its citizens Killed or scattered." "To Elia ahavdjian, the service has special meaning, for he is a survivor of the holocaust." "For him, Jerusalem became a haven." "Sixty years ago, he arrived as an orphaned boy;" "now he is surrounded by his loving family." "Survivors lead the solemn procession to the Armenian cemetery." "They are living reminders of one million five hundred thousand who perished." "In 1915, part of what had once been the Armenian Christian Kingdom was under Ottoman rule." "Labeling the Armenians "infidels"" "and "a dangerous foreign element", the government began to Kill their intellectuals." "Life had little value, as this magazine caption illustrates:" ""Five Dollars Buys a Pretty Armenian Slave Girl."" "Dscribing their policy as the" ""displacement of the Armenian population", the Ottoman TurKs drove them on forced marches into the Syrian Desert." "The road was the path of death by disease, massacre and starvation." "Elia ahvedjian remembers:" ""They took us through the Syrian Desert to Mardin." "We walked I don't Know how many weeks, how many months walked." "Near Mardin they bring us to a place where all around it was many hills." "My mother, she says, 'My darling they are going to Kill us." "I want to give my son to that urd which is coming." "Maybe he will remain alive."" "The urdish family fed him cleaned him up, and sold him at an auction to a Syrian Christian family." "The husband was an ironsmith, and six-year-old Elia worked the bellows for him." "When the man remarried, young Elia was put on the streets." "He drifted, begging, for a year, until the American Near East Relief organization placed him in an orphanage and, eventually, brought him to Jerusalem." "A son and daughter and their families gather today to remember the victims... and rejoice in Elia's survival." "Ahavedjian learned photography in the orphanage;" "he owns a photo supply store, custom laboratory, and portrait studio." "Although the family now resides outside the Old City, its life still revolves around the Armenian Quarter." "Here, as their parents did, ahvedjian's grandchildren learn Armenian culture, language, history, and geography." "To prepare for life in Jerusalem the children are also taught Arabic," "Hebrew, and English." ""..." "I am opening toe door I am shutting the door." "I am opening the window I am shutting the window." "I am knocking on the door I am pointing to the wall."" "His family thriving," "Elia ahvedjian remembers the orphans club he and nine boys formed when, at age 14 he began to work." "The quarters where the orphans lived have become the Armenian Cultural club." "For Elia, Jerusalem has provided a refuge of warmth, friendship and opportunity In his words," ""This is the happiest time of my life."" "The memory of Jesus and the miracle of" "His Resurrection live in Jerusalem every day." "Just as He joined the multitudes that journeyed to Jerusalem each year at Passover, throngs of pilgrims from around the globe come here at Holy week to walk in His footsteps." "Following the path Jesus took from the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane they enter the Old City." "Carrying crosses along the "Way of Sorrows"" "where tradition says He struggled in His agony, they connect with the ancient passion and eternal mystery of Christ." "In the hours before dawn on Easter Saturday, the flames of the lamps that light the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are extinguished." "When the door is opened, thousand of pilgrims press in to experience an Oriental ritual that has been repeated each year for centuries:" "The Miracle of the Holy Fire." "The greek Orthodox Patriarch arrives, escorted by Father Timothy and columns of monks." "The tomb of Christ has been sealed." "When the seal is removed, the Patriarch will enter to determine if the Holy Fire, said to be sent down by God will burst forth this year." "Symbol of Christ's Resurrection, the Holy Flame is passed to the exultant crowd." "It is said that here Jesus once stood flanked by two thieves." "Here He was crucified and rose again." "In the precincts of the church that commemorates those events, the hearts of the believers are illuminated by the flames of faith." "High on the wall of the Muslim Quarter in the Old City is a house where American pilgrims seeking a spiritual haven, settled one hundred years ago." "Their granddaughter, Anna Grace Lind still follows, the path their quest began." "Her grandmother, Anna Spafford, survived a shipwreck that took the lives of her four daughters." "Later, when a son also died her husband wrote:" ""Jerusalem is where my Lord lived, suffered and conquered, and I, too, wish to learn... especially to conquer."" "like her mother and grandmother," "Mrs. Lind has dedicated her life to serving the needy of Jerusalem." "Since 1967, she has administered the Spafford Children's Center, which provides prenatal and baby clinics for mothers and children who might otherwise go without these services." "Mrs. Mary Franji the supervising nurse, has worked here for nearly forty years." "The grandmothers of some of these babies were children when she began." ""Dr. Amireh has quite a number of patients like the..."" ""The main goal of the Spafford Children's Center is to help improve the health of the children in the Old City." "They are mostly Moslems." "We have several Israeli specialists who come to our clinic." "And we feel that this is a very important phase of our work because they are helping in the reconciliation between the Jews and the Arabs." "It may be just a tiny seed but it is a seed that, we hope, brings forth fruit."" ""okay, fine baby."" ""I live right on the city wall." "I feel it's important that quotation from Isaiah where it says," "'I have set watchmen on my walls O Jerusalem to pray day and night until I make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."'" ""..." "make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." ""These timeless words from the Bible speak of an ideal Jerusalem a city of glory and peace." "In 1985 the City of David Archeological Garden is opened." "Amid tangible proof of its Biblical past," "Mayor Teddy olleK has come to speak of Jerusalem in our time." "Aragmatic and sensitive to human needs, this remarkable man has retained his office through the combined votes of both Arabs and Jews." ""...when we are living in a time when people want evidence, they want to see, they want to touch what they believe in, and not only believe in the abstract."" ""Jerusalem is a place where meaning survive, when names survive." "In Jerusalem everybody has a religion." "That doesn't mean that everybody goes to synagogue, or church, or the mosques." "But people believe in things." "The people who come to Jerusalem because it has a special meaning for them." "It's not like coming to another city." "We try to give people a feeling they live in a city which belongs to everybody, where everybody has his particular past, and his particular history." "Everybody who lives in Jerusalem tries to link up with the past Jews, Christians Moslems."" ""The most important thing about Jerusalem is its people in their variety." "It should remain in that variety, one should protect that variety." "The people who live here, they are the factor that is most important."" "Through the generations, thousands of human beings have been thrust together to live out their lives in the vibrant microcosm that is the Old City of Jerusalem." "Bound by their fierce connection to the city, despite their differences, the pressures of the years, of violence and suffering, the resilience of these people and the city itself has preserved its timeless qualities." "Even in our ear of materialism and uncertainty, the concepts of love, rebirth brotherhood, and peace still shine forth from within the walls of Jerusalem."