Next Year in Jerusalem

"Next Year in Jerusalem", Imaginings, edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Pocket 2003, is a short story by Harry Turtledove. It is a conventional science fiction piece, depicting a future where the state of Israel was defeated by its neighbors after a century. Set in the late 21st century or early 22nd century, the story depicts a series of terrorist attacks on Arab Palestine by members of the Second Irgun, an Israeli nationalist group made up of foreign born Jews. Despite the best efforts of Yahkov and Miranda to incite an uprising, they succeed only in causing tragedy for the Jewish community when they kill its local leader.

Literary Comment
In typical fashion, Turtledove examines pressing issues of today by creating an analgous scenario. In this case, Turtledove displaces the Jews as the dominant power in Palestine and allows the Arabs to rule. While Turtledove acknowledges on the one hand that a strong Muslim government would not automatically be better (in fact, he tacitly argues that Muslim Arab rule in Palestine would be unpleasant), he also argues that fanaticism is rarely productive.

''Note: The scenario presented and the presence of an organization called the Second Irgun suggests that this story takes place in the same continuity as Turtledove's much earlier work "Les Mortes d'Arthur". Turtledove has not stated that this is the case, however.''