Posted on 03/02/22
Jerusalem, Israel - Mar. 2, 2022 - Andrew Lawton writes in the opening of his book "Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City": "Writing about Jerusalem was very stressful; every word counts, said author Simon Sebag Montefiore." "Which word to select is part of that trial" added Lawton.
I read carefully through all 355 pages of text which included impressive old and new photos. The extensive acknowledgments, endnotes, and index are extremely well done and a valuable resource, which I plan to keep to use in the future.
The early chapters on the beginnings of archeology in the Holy Land in the mid-19th century, led by Christian Zionists, Charles Wilson (Wilson's Arch), Charles Warren, British Royal engineers, Edward Robinson (Robinson's Arch), French explorer Louis-Felicien Joseph Caignart de Saulcy and German Conrad Schick, are extremely well-documented and informative.
Lawton presents a vast amount of material in an interesting and engaging way. He is an excellent writer who presents his extensive research on archeology, the work done over centuries under the Jerusalem streets, in an engrossing manner to draw the reader along.
However, on a couple of points, I must take exception. For example, in the timeline, 1948 CE "The British withdraw, Israel is created, and war breaks out between Arabs and the new state, the Jewish Quarter is damaged in the fighting." Rather, more factual correct would be - the United Nations declared a partition plan on November 29, 1947, the surrounding Arab nations attacked the new state and expelled the Jews from the Old City, and Jerusalem was divided and occupied by Jordan for 19 years.
The other point, on page 320 when discussing the US Embassy being the first to move Jerusalem. "The United States, therefore, had refused to acknowledge the Israeli government's 1950 move to make Jerusalem its capital...The decision by President Donald Trump to reverse this policy..." When in fact it was the US Congress that passed legislation in 1995 to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and subsequent US Presidents invoked waivers to not enforce the law and stopped the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"It is an act of brazen arrogance or naive foolishness-or both-to tackle the thorny history of Jerusalem," Lawton concludes. Indeed, he has done an excellent job to transverse the minefields and controversies, with an excellent result I truly appreciated.
The Western Wall excavations are ongoing, with two new routes opening to the public recently. It was fascinating to see the old photos along with the new rooms I visited, so similar after over a century. The City of David and the Tower of David are exposing new layers. It is good to learn about the past, so as to appreciate the present and future.
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN 9780385546850 hardcover, also paperback and ebook available