A Golden Basin Full of Scorpions

According to the 10th-century Arab chronicler Mukadissi, "Jerusalem is a golden basin full of scorpions", and this account of the city attests to that view. In the 2000 years since Jerusalem was founded, Christians, Persians and Turks have raised their standard above its walls, but it was only in 1994, after the peace accord between the PLO and the Israeli government, that the Palestinian flag was seen there. It was greeted with horror by Israelis who, after suffering nearly 2000 years in exile, regard the city as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish people.;The book aims to get to the heart of the Jerusalem dispute through the personal stories of people who inhabit the city, rather than the mountains of documents produced by diplomats and constitutional experts. It observes the contradictions of a people steeped in ancient rivalries, yet plagued by thoroughly modern evils.