Dome of the Rock and that the Muslims know it's there but don't want the Jews to have it. A more likely reason for refusing permission, though, is that the Muslims fear that Jewish zealots might get into the tunnel and blow up the Mosque in order to bring about the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. It would not be the first time that Israelis have tried to blow up the Dome. A group of zealots, mostly followers of Meir Kahane, tried it back in 1969. Kahane was assassinated while visiting New York in the early '90s but Moshe Greenberg, one of his followers, is now the Israeli Minister of Religious Affairs.'
Chapter 7
The Tears of Dogs
That night Decker and Tom stayed at the Rosens' home. They were invited to stay during their entire six week stint in Israel, but both men felt that would be an imposition. Besides, NewsWorld had already made arrangements for them and they said it was best not to let the company get out of the habit of paying the bill.
Decker had trouble sleeping that night. During the day he had catnapped at every opportunity, so sleep now seemed to lose its priority. He thought of home. It was nearly midnight in Israel. He wasn't sure what time it was in Washington, but decided that late or early, Elizabeth would appreciate the call. Walking quietly toward the kitchen to use the phone, he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard hushed voices and saw a light. At first he thought he might be imagining it, and then he became concerned that intruders might be in the house. As he stood motionless it became clear that one of the voices was Joshua Rosen and another was Liana, but there were others: two or three men. By the time Decker realized that there was no danger, his reporter's instincts had taken over. Later the guilt of spying on his hosts would eat at his conscience, but for right now he let curiosity rule.
'Don't you understand?' said one of the men. 'We must not let cost stop us. God will provide what we cannot.'
'Of course,' responded Joshua Rosen, 'but we must not foolishly rush into this unprepared. If this is the task God has set before us, we must begin it, but not haphazardly. When God told Noah to build the Ark, He provided adequate time for its completion. If we are faithful, God will not allow the need to arise before the answer is provided.'
'Yes!' responded the first man with undiminished zeal. 'But Petra must be protected!'
'Yes, yes,' said Rosen, 'Liana and I agree, Petra must be protected. All we are saying is that cost must be considered – not as an issue in whether to proceed, but rather to allow us to know how to proceed, as well as how much we must raise. We are not a large group, you know.'
'How well I know it!' the man responded.
'How are things progressing in getting the permits to obtain the equipment from America?' asked Rosen.
This time another man answered. 'I'm having a little trouble from some of my fellow Knesset members. Most trust me implicitly in these matters, but a few of the opposition members are constantly watching over my shoulder and have caused some delays.'
'But you will be able to do it?' asked the first man.
'Yes,' the other responded. 'I think so.'
'Good. Then, if there is no other new information,' said another man with an unusually rich and measured voice, 'let us plan to meet again after the Shabbat two weeks hence.' Clearly this was the voice of the group's leader. 'In the meantime, Joshua, continue your design work; James, continue to arrange for the permits; and Elias, please work with Joshua to determine the costs. I will continue to speak to those of our number from around the world who believe as we do that Petra must be protected, so that we can raise the necessary funding.'
'Yes, of course, Rabbi,' answered at least two of the participants, respectfully.
As the meeting broke up Decker quietly crept back to his room. He would call Elizabeth later.
Jerusalem
The next morning Decker and Tom went to the Jerusalem Ramada Renaissance Hotel, which was serving as the temporary Middle East headquarters of NewsWorld Magazine. The office was nothing more than a hotel room with a southern view of the old city of Jerusalem and an adjoining room for the correspondents to sleep in. The room stank of stale cigarettes which lay in a half-dozen overfull ashtrays around the room. It had apparently been some time since the trash had been taken out. A laptop computer and a small printer sat on a table, along with several crumpled sheets of paper, and a day-old cup of coffee.
'Nice place you've got here,' Decker said dryly as he surveyed the condition of the room. 'What's the matter, no room service?'
'Better get used to it,' responded lead reporter Hank Asher.
'Why, what's going on?'
'Most of Israel's service workers are Palestinians,' answered Bill Dean, the other News World reporter. 'When the protests started four months ago they all refused to go to work. This is the result.'
'It was the same back in the late eighties and early nineties during the last major episode of this never-ending battle,' continued Asher, as he took another drag from his cigarette.
At that moment the phone rang and Asher answered it. 'When?' he asked the caller after a moment. 'Are you sure?' Hank Asher hung up the phone and grabbed his camera bag while the other three men moved instinctively toward the door. 'I hope you guys ate your Wheaties this morning,' Asher said. 'This looks like a big one.'
The four men crammed into a small car and sped off. 'Where are we going?' asked Decker.
'Jabaliva, on the outskirts of Gaza City,' answered Asher. 'There's a major riot in progress. If my source is correct, there may be as many as several thousand Palestinians involved. Israeli security has been using rubber bullets so far, but with that many people throwing rocks and fire bombs, there's no telling what will happen.'
'What's going on?' asked Tom. 'Why so many?'
'Don't know,' answered Asher. 'So far the riots have been scattered and limited to a few dozen Palestinians at any one time. This is very unusual.'
When they arrived near the site of the riot, the road had been roped off by Israeli security forces. Asher pulled the car to the checkpost and showed the soldier his press credentials. A moment later they parked the car within a hundred yards of the riot and Asher and Dean put large 'PRESS' signs in their front, side and rear windows. 'Most of the time they won't bother press vehicles,' Dean explained as Tom and Decker looked on.
As they approached the rioting, the size of the crowds became clear. Asher's source had been right about the number. The Israeli security forces had broken the Palestinians into six or eight smaller groups. From the direction of each of the groups, the sounds of breaking glass and the pop of rubber bullets being fired by Israeli soldiers could be heard above the anti-Israeli shouts and chants. Decker and Tom split off from Dean and Asher to cover a larger area. Several of the groups were moving slowly in the direction of Gaza City, and houses and shacks now gave way to larger buildings with shops protected by steel bars and garage-door type retractable metal fronts.
Decker and Tom got as close to one of the crowds as they could and then decided to try to circle around behind them. This required the pair to swing wide some five blocks and approach from the side of the conflagration.
Still two blocks from the riot, Decker's pulse suddenly quickened as the pop of rifles firing rubber bullets was replaced by a far more familiar but deadly sound, which Decker recognized from his time in Vietnam as the crack of live ammunition. At first there were just a few shots, but the number grew. The sound echoed around them in the distance; then Decker realized that what he was hearing was not an echo. From the streets around them, in every direction, hundreds of shots were being fired. Decker's first response was to look for cover, but that same reporter's curiosity which sometimes caused him to do things he wasn't proud of, now drove him on toward the conflict. Tom readied his camera for the scene that awaited them. Then suddenly the guns were silent and the streets were filled instead with sounds of weeping and cries of pain. On the street before them, more than fifty Palestinians lay dead or wounded. Above the cries, an order went out and was repeated to unload live ammunition and to reload rubber bullets. Israeli soldiers ran from storefront to storefront, routing any Palestinians they found
