Jerusalem, Jerusalem: A Memoir or War and Peace, Passion and Politics

Jerusalem, Jerusalem: A Memoir or War and Peace, Passion and Politics by Hazleton, Lesley. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780140102444.

In 1966, Lesley Hazleton went to Israel for a two-week vacation - she discovered the seductive city of Jerusalem and stayed for thirteen years. During this time Hazleton, a British Jew, became a seasoned journalist, experienced the Six Days War, and made her first pilgrimage through the Old City to the Western Wall. She left Israel in 1979, but it was like ending a passionate love affair: Hazleton could not break the intense emotional times that bound her to Jerusalem, and she returned year after year. Jerusalem, Jerusalem is set during Hazletons "farewell" visit in 1984, and it chronicles her own personal struggle to come to terms with what this troubled country means to her. Veering between the past and present, this poignant memoir traces the political and environmental changes that have transformed Israel since the Six Days War, and addresses the evergrowing conflict between religious and secular Jews. Lesley Hazleton explores the divisions of souls - Israels and her own - as she paints an intimate, honest, and compelling portrait of a city living on the brink of war and peace.