"How God must weep and frown upon this city."

Throughout my reading of this book, there is one thought that has relentlessly prevailed over all others. "How God must weep and frown upon this city." What does that mean to you?

This is a tough post for me. This is not because I have nothing to say but because I have perhaps too much to say and it's after nine.

The bulk of the trouble I encountered with this book has had little to do with never ending detail. (Although my frustrations were not free of this.) No. At the center of my struggle, my jihad, lies the continuous fight against the deterioration of hope. I don't think I'll elaborate.

I applaud Armstrong's choice in titling the last chapter "Zion?" in an initially ambiguous comparison to the first. It soon became clear to me that that question mark has more meanings than I can count. In the final chapter, Armstrong questions in many ways the current status of the city - on the shaky grounds Jerusalem gained its current status, on its leaders' treatment of its inhabitants, on the fast-changing degrees and parameters of devotion to its sacred spaces, on the confusion of identity and the inconsistencies that identity engenders, among other things - and juxtaposes or familiarizes these concepts with its status throughout the past.

Some quotes from "Zion?" that I found stimulating:

"Secular young paratroopers clung to the stones and wept ... atheist officers embraced one another" (398-9) A renewed appreciation for God?

"Some Jews were embarrassed when Arabs knocked at the door and politely asked for permission to look inside their family houses" (404) Would you have let them in? Would you have let them stay?

"Prayer had become a weapon in a holy war against Islam" (408) Again and again in this city.

"...the idea of a Third temple had been taboo. Like God it was dangerous to speak of it or give plans for its rebuilding. But now that taboo was being erroded and people were becoming familiar with its idea as a plausible project"(416). Similar to Orthodox Jews' eventual acceptance of Zionism?

"As we reflect on the current unhappy situation, it becomes a sad irony that on two occasions in the past, it was an Islamic conquest of Jerusalem that made it possible for Jews to return to their holy city." (420) Everyone gather around and embrace the page number.

"Jerusalem has been a nervous, defenseless city." (420-421) Yes'm.

"The religion of hatred does not work; it so easily becomes self-destructive." (423) I wonder why.

And my favorite, the quote that just about wraps it all up and lets me close the book with a sigh of relief: "nothing is permanent or guaranteed." (427)