The Battle for Jerusalem, June 5-7, 1967

by Abraham Rabinovich

Book Overview

The author recounts Israel's swift and successful attempt to capture Jerusalem's Old City during the Six Day War of 1967.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0827602855
• ISBN13: 9780827602854
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Jewish Publication Society of America
• Length: 429 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

An outstanding account of a historic battle

This book has just been reprinted by Sefer v' Sefel Publications in Jerusalem. They have made a very attractive book with many pictures of the participants of the battle, and the battlefields themselves. Rabinovitch interviewed over three- hundred people, traveled all over the country for this work. He is a first- rate journalist and he has a real eye for the battlefield and ear for those who were able to tell their stories of what happened. I have done research on an important figure in the whole story Rabbi Shlomo Goren, and paid special attention to Rabinovitch's account of Rabbi Goren on that day. It was moving, and dramatic, and caught the spirit of the time. The whole story, the threat to Israel before the 67 war, the build- up of tension with the long - waiting period, the great fear that another Holocaust might be on the way, - all this followed by the dramatic turnaround the startling unexpected victory which had as its penultimate stage the taking and retaking of Jerusalem is chronicled here. The fact is that there would not have been a battle for Jerusalem had not the Jordanians attacked. Rabinovich tells the story of many of the quiet heroes of the battle, the people from every walk of life who came to defend their homes and found themselves part of the one great moments of modern Jewish history. This is journalism at the highest level about a great historical event.

The best book on the Subject

In June 1967 the third Arab Israeli war broke out. Although Jerusalem had been but a side show and not a prime objective, it ended up being one of the symbols and one of the most important victories in the war. Famous scenes of men crying at the Western Wall(the holiest site in Judaism) and Dayan(eye patch included) strolling down the Old city steps. Similar important battles such as Ammunition hill went down in Israeli military history as some of the bloodiest and bravest ever fought. Of all the books on the six day war, this is by far the best one on the Battle for jerusalem. Many subjects are covered, including the many units involved, the commands, the ordinary soldiers, the UN workers, the Mayor, the Israeli museum, the children and the hospital staff. Few people are left unmentioned in this tour of the battlefield, that puts the reader in the picture. The only downside of this book, like most on the conflict, is an almost total lack of maps and few if any acounts of the jordanian experience. Nevertheless this is the standard on the subject. Seth J.Frantzman