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I consulted hundreds of books, articles, and Web sites while preparing this manuscript, far too many to cite here, but I would be remiss if I did not mention a few. I am deeply indebted to the great Israeli scholar Benny Morris, whose groundbreaking The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem helped to shape my views on the nature and scope of the Arab expulsions that took place in 1947 and 1948. Morris’s towering history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Righteous Victims, also proved to be an invaluable resource, as was Martin Gilbert’s Israel. My own impressions of contemporary Israeli society were sharpened by three works in particular: The Israelis by Donna Rosenthal, Still Life with Bombers by David Horowitz, and War Without End by Anton La Guardia. The Quest for the Red Prince by Michael Bar-Zohar and Eitan Haber is a telling account of the Salameh family’s violent history. It was Yaron Ezrahi of the Israeli Democracy Institute in Jerusalem, not the fictitious Colonel Yonatan Shamron, who first compared the Separation Fence to the Wailing Wall, and with far more eloquence and passion than I managed here. Those familiar with the Yom Kippur evening service will recognize that I have borrowed four lines of prayer, composed originally for the British edition of Gates of Repentance, and placed them in the mouth of Ari Shamron in the penultimate chapter

None of this would be possible without the support and dedication of the remarkable team of professionals at Putnam: Carole Baron, Daniel Harvey, Marilyn Ducksworth, and especially my editor, Neil Nyren. They are, quite simply, the very best at what they do.

Finally, my wife, Jamie Gangel, skillfully read each of my early drafts, served as a sounding board for my ideas, and, as always, helped drag me across the finish line. I cannot overstate her contribution, nor can I thank her enough.

Contents

PART ONE THE DOSSIER

1 ROME: MARCH 4

2 TIBERIAS, ISRAEL

3 LONDON

4 VENICE

5 TEL AVIV: MARCH 10

6 TEL AVIV: MARCH 20

7 TEL AVIV

PART TWO THE COLLABORATOR

8 NEAR AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE

9 JERUSALEM

10 JERUSALEM: MARCH 22

11 JERUSALEM: MARCH 23

12 TEL AVIV

13 CAIRO: MARCH 31

14 CAIRO

PART THREE THE GARE de LYON

15 MARSEILLES

16 ROME

17 BOSA, SARDINIA

18 MARSEILLES

19 SURREY, ENGLAND

20 MARSEILLES

21 MARSEILLES

22 MARTIGUES, FRANCE

23 JERUSALEM

24 TROYES, FRANCE

25 ST-DENIS, NORTHERN PARIS

26 PARIS

27 PARIS

28 PARIS

29 PARIS

PART FOUR SUMAYRIYYA

30 PARIS

31 FIUMICINO, ITALY

32 JERUSALEM

33 JERUSALEM

34 TEL AVIV

35 TEL MEGIDDO, ISRAEL

36 TIBERIAS, ISRAEL

37 AIX-EN-PROVENCE: FIVE MONTHS LATER

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s Imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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