Within These Walls

Within these walls lies a mystical city...

an ancient promise of peace so desired

that man has warred over it for

thousands of years.

Over the centuries its walls

have been reddened

by the blood of Jebusites and Jews,

Babylonians and Persians

armies of Arabs, Crusaders,

Ottoman Turks, and the British Empire.

Sacred city of the soul for one

third of the earth's people,

through the millennia it has drawn

mankind to itself like a magnet.

To all who live, work, and visit here,

this is more than a city;

it is a haven the fulfillment

of some dream

or prophecy the legacy of generations

who have gone before.

For this man and his family,

coming here was the consummation

of a promise made,

This man came here as an orphaned boy

and found a miniature version of

his lost nation.

The dark shadow of Hitler's

armies advancing

across Europe drove this man

on a path

that led to the discovery of his roots

in the very earth beneath his home.

The magnetism of the city's Holy

Places is so strong

that this man risked losing his

own family to come here.

Proud inheritor of a name

that has lived in this city

for 1,300 years,

this man's life bridges past

and future.

From near and far they have come,

searching for refuge, for their pasts,

and the meaning of the present.

Three thousand years of vibrant

history, hope,

and belief are rooted here

within the walls of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, within these walls

in the tiny enclave that is

the Old City,

some of the greatest dramas

in the history

of mankind have been enacted.

This is a story of that city crucible

of the world's three

great monotheistic religions...

symbol of peace in an area of

turmoil and upheaval.

It is a story of peoples of

profoundly different cultures

who struggle to maintain

those differences

people who have fought each other,

but now live side by side in

sometimes uneasy coexistence.

Jews from around the world pray

at the Western Wall vestige of

the Second Temple...

object of Jewish yearning and

prayer for 2,000 years.

Here, built on the sites

where tradition says Jesus spent

His last moments on earth,

was crucified and entombed,

is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Most holy of shrines

in the Christian world,

this church has attracted pilgrims

since the time of Constantine

the Great.

In the walls of their

ancient quarter,

Armenians strive to preserve the

heritage of a vanished kingdom...

in their lives... and in the hearts

and minds of their younger generation.

Consecrated under this Dome is the

sacred rock where,

tradition says,

Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac...

over which the ancient temples of

the Jews were built...

from which, Muslims proclaim,

Muhammad journeyed to heaven.

This tumult of people and history

intersects in the labyrinth of

the ancient bazaars.

Wrapped around the venerable city

like the setting

for an exotic jewel are the walls

retaining traces

of the eras of King Herod,

the Romans, and Crusaders...

last rebuilt by Suleiman the

Magnificent 400 years ago.

Outside the walls, there is the

twentieth century,

the new city of Jerusalem,

and the administrative center of

the nation of Israel.

Inside is a city believed

by medieval man

to be the center of the Universe,

a city known to more people

for a longer time

than any other on earth.

Here, the heart of historic

Jerusalem still beats.

Its ethnic-religious quarters cling

to the sites that give them life:

the Dome of the Rock:

third holiest place of Islamic

pilgrimage after Mecca

and Medina and focal point of

the Muslim Quarter...

the Western Wall

known as the Wailing Wall...

symbol of the Jewish Quarter...

the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,

core of the Christian Quarter that

has grown around it...

the Cathedral of St. James,

spiritual center of the

Armenian Quarter.

Twenty-six thousand souls make their

home in the Old City,

packed into an area of less than

one square mile.

Their story began 3,000 years ago,

when King David bought the threshing

floor on this hill as the site

for the temple of the Jew's one God.

Having subdued the Jebusites,

he transformed their city

into the capital

of the United Kingdom of Israel

and thrust Jerusalem center stage in

a drama that continues to this day.

Once a royal center of

impressive structures

and massive fortifications,

the City of David has begun to reveal

its past to archeologists

under the direction of Dr. Yigal

Shiloh of the Hebrew University.

"David made this city more important

than others

by choosing this location to become

the capital of Judea at the south

and Israel at the north."

The residential area of David's

capital probably looked

much like this village of today.

Urbanization undoubtedly began here

because of the presence of the

Spring of Gihon

a constant source of water.

At the end of the eighth century B.C.,

anticipating an attack by the Assyrians,

King Hezekiah ordered

this tunnel built.

"Why should the kings of Assyria

come and find much water?"

asks the Bible in Second Chronicles

Cut deep underground,

the tunnel carried the water

nearly 1,800 feet

from the spring outside the wall

to a point inside the city.

"This system was done by king Hezekiah

as it is described in the Bible

and the inscription that was found

at the southern end of the tunnel."

The city survived the siege

of the Assyrians.

But in 586 B.C., Babylonian forces

burned Jerusalem,

massacred thousands, and exiled

the enslaved survivors.

Archeologists have uncovered poignant

reminders of those

who once lived here,

including clay seals bearing names

of people mentioned in the Bible.

The lament of the exiles echoes

through history:

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand forget her cunning...

let my tongue cleave to the roof

of my mouth,

if I prefer not Jerusalem above

my chief joy!"

A half century later,

the Persians defeated the Babylonians

and allowed the Jews to return.

The Second Temple rose on the site

of the first.

This model depicts Jerusalem as it was

when Jesus came here to celebrate

the festival of Passover.

Although He knew the repressive

Roman rulers

had labeled Him a rebel,

He continued to preach brotherhood

kindness, and charity.

In the last days before

His Crucifixion,

Jesus left the temple by these steps.

They are on of the few remnants

that remain for in 70 A.D.,

on the anniversary of the day

the Babylonians

had sacked the First Temple,

the Romans burned the city

butchered the people,

and took the rest as slaves.

Thus was Jerusalem destroyed

for a second time.

Six hundred years later

according to Muslim belief,

Muhammad departed for the

throne of God

from the sacred rock of Jerusalem

where the temple had stood.

Aware of the Holy Books of the Jews

and Christians,

Muhammad had converted the

idolatrous tribes of Arabia

to the concept of one God.

Only six years after his death,

an army of his followers stood at

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