Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area. Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, modern Jerusalem has grown up outside the Old City.

The city has a history that goes back to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Tradition says that King David first chose it as Israel's capital. It is considered a Holy City by members of three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Jerusalem in "Next Year in Jerusalem"
"Next Year in Jerusalem" was the motto of the Second Irgun, a statement of hope that one day, Jerusalem would again be part of the reconstituted Israel.

Jerusalem in "Occupation Duty"
Hierosolyma was the principle city of occupied Moab. Unlike modern cities such as Gaza, it was still built with local golden limestone and wood and brick. It looked as though it had been in existence forever and had, in fact, been taken by Lord Goliath some three thousand years ago. It had also been sacked by the Turks, wrecked by the Romans, occupied by the Persians and besieged by Philip of Macedon.

During Pheidas' tour of duty as a conscript in the Philistinian Army, he was based in Hierosolyma and went on foot patrols to help keep the Moabites cowed.

Jerusalem in Thessalonica
When the Avar and Slav sorcerers invoked a fire-goddess for a spell which put out all the fires in besieged Thessalonica, George had the idea that the Jews of Thessalonica might have been immune to the spell. He went to the Jewish Quarter and found that it was indeed so, and got from his Jewish friend Benjamin the Coppersmith a burning flame with which he re-lighted fires in the Christian part of the city. Benjamin compared the Jews' immunity to the fire-spell with an earlier miraculous event - in the aftermath of the Jews' rebellion against Hellenist rule in Jerusalem, a small cup of consecrated oil had been enough to feed the fire in in the Temple for whole eight days. George was of course familiar with the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was crucified, but he did not hear before of this particular miracle which was part of Jewish history rather than Christian one. However, George saw no reason to doubt the story, having seen with his own eyes the effectiveness of the Jewish God's care for His worshipers.

Jerusalem in "Shock and Awe"
Jerusalem fell to the barbarian tribesmen led by a strange chieftain known as the "Son of God", and his second-in-command, the Rock. The siege lasted for three days and nights. On the third night, the hillsmen succeeded in entering Jerusalem and slaughtering the entire Roman garrison and any people seen as collaborators.

Jerusalem in "The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump"
The Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was a place shrouded in mystery. It was inaccessible to non-Jews, and to all but a few select Jews. The only thing known for certain was that it was a place of very powerful magic, and that any attempted entry by non-authorized persons might end very badly.

Jerusalem in The War That Came Early
After the 1941 British Military Coup, the head of Scotland Yard (who had closely cooperated with the Wilson Government) was packed off to head the British police in Jerusalem. Ronald Cartland assumed that he would be killed either by the Arabs or by the Zionists, but if managed to survive, "he might actually do some good to the Empire".

Jerusalem in Worldwar
Jerusalem was a city in Race-controlled Palestine, sensitive for its importance to several rival human religions, a fact that the Race was slow to appreciate due to having had no other religion but Emperor-worship for so many centuries. The city became also well-known for the international hospital established there by Moishe Russie for comparing human medical practices with those of the Race.

The Greater German Reich launched two nuclear missiles at Jerusalem during the Race-German War of 1965, but both were destroyed by the Race's anti-missile system.