Before them was a large open square with a fence on the right side. Women crowded behind it. The men stood in the square below next to the wall, praying. They all had yarmulkes or other hats. Some inserted prayer notes in the cracks between large square stones that each stood over four feet high. Smaller stones stacked above them, towered up forty feet.
David explained: “These people are praying. They are ‘wailing’ in the view of foreigners, until the temple is restored with its ancient glory. I had my bar mitzvah here in the square when I was thirteen.”
“Can anyone pray at the wall?” Ashley asked.
“Well … yes, if you have your head covered. Oh, and if you’re a man.”
“Why aren’t women allowed down at the base of the wall with the men?”
“I don’t know, Ashley. Tradition, I guess. We always segregate the women from the men.”
They watched as men bobbed toward the wall and back or up and down. Ashley turned and gazed at the square filled with people. Behind the square some large apartment buildings seemed empty. She asked David about them.
“When we captured the West Bank in the 1967 War, we controlled this area and the wall for the first time in hundreds of years. So we cleared the area of houses and apartments in what is now the open square.”
“Were they Palestinian homes?”
“Yes. And now the Palestinians want to have this surrounding area, East Jerusalem, as their capital for their new state. It actually is part of the West Bank. So our government is still building settlements right here. If you look over there, you can see new buildings going up for Jewish settlers. We are still destroying more homes to build high-rise buildings. The Palestinians don’t like this. They are gradually losing their homes. But Arab workers are glad to have jobs, even if it means building homes that will displace their people.”
“What is the crowd doing just beyond the new construction?” Marie asked.
“I hear bulldozers,” David said. “I suspect they are taking down Palestinian houses and the crowd doesn’t like it.”
“Are they paid the value of their homes?” Ashley asked.
“I’m not sure. But they are being forced to move. The end result of the Zionists’ beliefs, Ashley. They are gradually taking the West Bank and East Jerusalem, piece by piece.”
Ashley grimaced, watching for several minutes as the crowd grew and moved away from them toward the sound of the bulldozers.
“It’s time for you and Marie to check in over there to the right of the square at the base of that long wooden ramp. They’ll check your passports, and then you can explore the Temple Mount with the mosques. I can’t go up there, as I mentioned.”
Walid decided he would join the demonstrators just beyond the square. He watched the two women leave their Jewish escort at the bottom of the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount. Always together. No point in following them up there. Umar had been sick and up most of the night, so he went home to his apartment. Walid realized that according to their schedule, he’d have to get Ashley alone somehow. It was now or never. He must not fail again.
With David waiting at the checkpoint, the two ladies showed their passports, walked up the ramp to the top, and came out on to a broad stone square, expansive in area. They approached the largest mosque in Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, just ahead and to their right beyond the museum. Its dome, covered with silver according to Ashley’s guidebook, appeared black. They looked to their left, and there, elevated further with stair access, stood the magnificent Dome of the Rock shrine, startling in its beauty with its golden dome.
They meandered around the famous shrine and admired the marble and mosaic tiles inscribed with Arabic calligraphy from the Qu’ran. The exquisite patterns defied description. Ashley’s book depicted the interior, a large, carpeted, plain room with stained-glass windows. A low fence surrounded the large rock, the very top of the mountain. Knowing it probably wouldn’t work, they took scarves out of Marie’s backpack, covered their heads, walked up to the door, and spoke to the guard. He didn’t speak English, but waved them off with a shake of his head.
“Bummer!” Ashley said as they walked away. “I wanted to see the top of Mount Mariah.”
Chapter 45
How did you find the Temple Mount?” David inquired.
“More spectacular than the pictures show,” Marie answered. “Would Muslims actually keep you from going up?”
“Oh yes. It would be dangerous for me to try. But also, the temple contained the Holy of Holies when it existed two thousand years ago. We think the rock at the top is that site, forbidden for us to ever walk there. Only the high priest may, once a year. It is the holiest place on earth to us, and to Muslims, the center of the world.”
“David, to think we walked up there gives me goosebumps. We experienced history.”
“What are ‘goosebumps,’ Ashley?”
Ashley laughed. “That’s the first English expression you haven’t known. You are amazing, David. It’s those little bumps you get on your skin when something really delightful happens, like hearing a song you love.”
“Oh yes! I get them during the Passover remembrance.”
Ashley peered from the bottom of the ramp area across to the crowd that gathered past the new construction and around the corner beyond her sight. “Let’s wander over to see what’s going on.”
“OK,” David said, “but don’t wander too far. Stay back. I have friends who may be there who can explain to you what is going on. But be sure we stay together.”
The crowd of young men seemed restless, even agitated, shouting and holding signs up in Hebrew and Arabic.
“What do they say, David?” Ashley asked.
“You’ve probably heard of Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’. Another says ‘shame,’ and ‘stop!’ That one with blood dripping down it says, ‘Remember Rachel Corrie.’ ”
Ashley stood and stared at the crowd, lost in her imagination of a young American Jewish woman, crushed in Gaza for standing in defiance before an Israeli bulldozer about to destroy someone’s home. She shook her head in disbelief that it really happened.
“She’s now a symbol of resistance here,” David said. “A real heroine.”
“Let’s walk around the corner to see what’s happening there,” Ashley suggested.
As they rounded the corner, the crowd began to flow in behind them, and the three visitors were quickly surrounded. Ashley felt the pressure of the crowd surging and pushing her forward.
Then she noticed an armored bulldozer approaching a house. Two couples, one of them appearing to be grandparents with three small children behind them, held out their hands to the bulldozer operator, pleading with their hands and faces. They stood in front of a small stone home with colorful flower boxes. Several Israeli soldiers appeared with automatic rifles and motioned them to move off to the side. They refused to move. The caterpillar clanged forward slowly, large blade down, driver in a thick glass and steel cage. More soldiers appeared with metal shields and began to push the Palestinian family aside. The bulldozer arrived at the front of the house and crunched the front wall. The house shivered as it collapsed.
Suddenly rocks flew from the crowd toward the soldiers. They fired into the air. But the rocks continued. Everyone shouted and pointed to new troops that advanced on the crowd to the left. Those soldiers fired. The young men closest to the soldiers fled toward the two women and David, now in the middle of the crowd. Two of the young men fell, one bleeding from his mouth.
Then Ashley heard a pop, and tear gas canisters flew overhead spewing gas over the crowd. It settled on them. Ashley’s lungs instantly burned. She coughed. Her eyes stung and watered. She could hardly see or breathe.
The crowd swelled and pushed her away from the soldiers. She rushed to keep her footing. Unable to see clearly, coughing, stumbling, and trying to regain her balance, she finally fell forward. The crowd surged around her; some stepped on her arms, almost trampling her in their hurry to flee from the bullets. Suddenly a
strong hand reached down, yanked her arm, and pulled her to her feet. Ashley couldn’t see her rescuer, but heard him shout, “Keep moving” in broken English. As they ran he held her arm in a strong grip. Her vision cleared slightly. She looked for Marie and David. They were nowhere in sight.
Chapter 46
David had seen the Israeli troops coming and shouted to both women to follow him to the rear of the crowd. Marie heard him and pushed her way through to follow David. She struggled to keep up with David, running, walking, and pushing.
Marie repeated over and over, “I’m sorry, excuse me.” David finally grabbed her arm and pulled her with him as they dashed toward the Temple Mount and safety.
“Where is Ashley? Didn’t she follow us?” David shouted.
“I don’t know! I thought she would follow me. But where is she? Maybe she didn’t hear you.”
“Marie, stay right at the base of the ramp over there! I’m going to look for Ashley!”
With that he sprinted after the crowd, which had now largely passed and headed out of the square and down several streets in the Jewish Quarter. The Israeli troops finally stopped pursuing the crowd as it rapidly disappeared. Marie saw vans arrive. Soldiers had handcuffed six young men and herded them into the vehicles along with the two casualties carried on stretchers.
David ran full out and quickly covered the distance between him and the crowd as it dispersed in every direction. He recognized a friend from school. “Have you seen a blonde American girl running this way? She would stand out in this crowd.”
“I saw a girl like that running with a tall Arab guy who had her by the arm. They were ahead of me and turned right into one of the small streets toward the Muslim Quarter. I don’t know where they went after that.”
David thanked him and streaked down the street, turning right into the Souk. He rushed up many streets and alleyways looking for Ashley. He inquired of the shopkeepers. No one had seen Ashley. He spent the next two hours searching and asking if anyone had seen the blonde American. Finally he found an Israeli policeman and reported Ashley missing.
“We’ll put out a missing person bulletin.” The officer pulled out his radio and started to report what David had told him.
Marie stood patiently by the entrance to the Temple Mount ramp and waited, worried about Ashley, wondering what had happened to her. I should call her cell phone, she thought. She did. It rang and rang. No answer.
Surely if she fell and injured herself, David would find her. An hour passed. Marie prayed for Ashley. Then she worried about being alone as the afternoon wore on. She could find her way back to the guesthouse near the Jaffa Gate. But David knew where she waited and had told her to stay there. Surely by this time he would be back with some kind of news about Ashley. More time passed. Soon it had been over two hours since he sprinted down the square to find her. Where could he be, and when would he come with news of her friend? Marie prayed again that Ashley would be found and be OK.
Finally David appeared, out of breath, looking haggard and spent. He shook his head. “She has totally disappeared.”
Marie found a small bench at the base of the ramp in the checkpoint area. “Sit down, David. You look exhausted.”
“I am.” David crumpled onto the bench and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, holding his head. “I looked everywhere for her, talked to so many people. Only one had seen her, with a tall man, heading into the Muslim Quarter.”
“Did you go there?”
“That’s where I’ve been the whole time. Up one alley and down another. No one could give me any help. I did find a policeman and reported Ashley missing. He put out a report on his radio. What do you think we should do?”
“Let’s find a police station and ask them.”
“I know of one close to the guesthouse,” David replied.
David and Marie hurried toward the Jaffa Gate. Marie prayed silently as they went. The police station bustled with people milling around on the stone floor of the main room. Three desks stood in front of several doors. The stone walls contained small windows protected with iron grates and a large Star of David. Everything seemed like utter confusion to Marie. They waited for several minutes in a line to get to a woman sitting behind a desk. She spoke rapidly in Hebrew, frowning to the people ahead of them. Finally David inched up to her desk.
“We lost a friend in the demonstration today,” David reported in Hebrew.
“Do you know how many ‘lost friends’ we’re tracking right now?” she snapped back.
“A policeman took the information I gave him and called in a missing person report.”
“Alright, what’s the name of your friend?”
“Ashley Wells.”
The police woman scanned her computer and after a few keystrokes looked up. “Yes, we have her on our list. Blonde American young woman.”
“Do you have any leads at all?”
“Young man, we have no idea where she might be. And furthermore, our officers are on patrol all over the Old City looking for several people who instigated the demonstration today. Come back tomorrow and perhaps we can help.” With that she looked beyond them to others who waited behind Marie.
David explained to Marie what the policewoman had said. “There’s not much help here, at least not tonight. I might as well take you back to the guesthouse. We’ll find Jim. I think I’ll give Ben a call. Then we can decide what to do.”
Chapter 47
Several team members sat in lounge chairs in the front room of the guesthouse, resting after coming back from their adventures. One of them, Betty, spoke. “Did you know about the riot today? We watched it from the ramp going up to the Temple Mount.”
“Yes, we were in it,” Marie replied as she rushed in to join the group. “Ashley’s missing.” She shocked herself by saying that word to their friends.
“She’s missing?!” The group gasped.
Marie related the story briefly as the others listened with mouths agape. David added how he had tried to find her, guided by a friend, looking everywhere he could in the Souk. “Where’s Jim?” he asked.
“He hasn’t shown up yet with his crew,” one of them replied.
Marie glanced at David talking on his cell phone. She raced upstairs to their room to be sure Ashley had not somehow come back. Hurrying back down the stairs, she entered the front room just as Jim and two of the team came in the door. Marie told the story to the new arrivals just as their driver Ben entered.
Jim took charge as they all found a place to sit, except David who stood behind Marie. “David, would you get the evening supervisor to come join us? We need all the advice we can muster.”
The supervisor, Alim, joined them and heard the story of Ashley’s disappearance from David as they walked down the stairs.
“Ashley needs our help,” Jim began. “And she also needs God’s. So let’s pray. Oh heavenly Father, you know where Ashley is and what is happening to her right now. Keep her from harm. Help her to come back to us, or help us to find her. Be her rescuer. Amen.”
Marie wiped away a tear.
Then Jim looked up. “You heard from Marie and David what happened today. Is there anything else that we need to know? Marie, you’ve been with Ashley more than any of us. Can you add anything?”
Marie wondered how much of what Ashley had confided in her she should tell. Would it help in finding her? She began with the easy part. “I just checked our room. She’s not been there. I called her cell phone several times. It’s not working.” She closed her eyes, visualizing Ashley explaining her frightening dream. Marie would never disclose anything she learned confidentially. She hated gossip. But now this information could be of help in finding her friend.
After several moments, with every eye fixed on her in the silence, she began, “Ashley had not planned to speak of this with anyone, but being together when she had a frightening dream, she shared it with me, in confidence. I would normally not divulge anything like this, but in the hope that it could possibly
help in locating her, here it is.”
Marie told of Ashley’s dream. “Ashley had been nearly abducted at gunpoint near the wall in Bethlehem, saved by a taxi driver. She had not wanted to disturb or delay the team, so she kept it to herself. She didn’t want it to ruin her own trip either, and tried to forget it.” Marie paused. “But she couldn’t control her dreams. I wonder whether her disappearance now is related to that attempt in Bethlehem. I suppose it could be a coincidence.”
The team seemed stunned. Jim spoke quickly. “If I’d known that I would never have let Ashley out of my sight! What is going on? Is someone out to get her?”
“That is possible, Jim,” Ben spoke quietly. “But let’s not jump to conclusions. I would check the emergency rooms in town to be sure she’s not injured and waiting to be seen. I know where she would most likely be taken, probably Hadassah on Mount Scopus. I’ll call around.”
“Would you, Ben? Thanks.”
As Ben left the room to make the calls, Jim turned to Alim. “You have had years of experience here, Alim. What seems most likely to you?”
Alim nodded. “Yes, I have seen people lost for a time, but they usually find their way back to the guesthouse by asking for directions or help. Ashley has been missing for several hours. The Old City is not that big that she couldn’t find her way back to the Jaffa Gate, which is well known, and then to here by now. It is only beginning to get dark. So I doubt that she just lost her way.”
“David, what are your thoughts at this point?”
“Hmm …” David hesitated. “Blonde young women attract attention here. If she were lost or injured, particularly if she is conscious, she would be here now, or at least have called and let Marie know what happened. Someone would help her. Oh, here comes Ben. Any news?”
“No. She is not in either of the emergency rooms that medics use.”
“Then we have to assume that my friend’s story is probably accurate. There were no other blonde girls in the crowd, or I would have noticed them. So she must be in the hands of the man who gripped her arm and forced her into the Muslim Quarter. We know only that he was Arabian looking and tall. I know the Souk, and I looked everywhere on the streets and alleys, talking to shopkeepers. Of course, he could have taken her into any house or apartment.”
Living Stones Page 15
