Yoram Zamush was the first Jew in the history of Jerusalem to raise the Israeli flag over the Temple Mount. The son of immigrants from Germany, Zamush was born and raised on Kibbutz Yavne, and today lives in a nearby community. He studied at the kibbutz school, was a member of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and served for five years as a paratrooper. By the time of his discharge at age 24, he had reached the rank of company commander -- no small accomplishment for someone of his age and, in those days, for a religious soldier -- a precedent which many have since followed.

Zamush was then given command of a reserve paratroop company, with whom he had one training exercise before the period leading up to the Six-Day War. In the weeks before the outbreak of the war, all around him other reservists were being called up -- only he and his men were left idle. He felt very uncomfortable about being left out, but in retrospect he now thinks that maybe God was saving him and his men for the liberation of Jerusalem.

Finally, he and his company were called, with 110 percent reporting for duty -- all those who were officially in his unit plus a few more who had heard and came forth. Some had come back from overseas. The tension was great and patriotic feeling was high. When Zamush and his men arrived at their base, they felt as if they were the only ones left in the center of the country. Within a few days, however, they were in training for a paratroop drop behind enemy lines in the area of El-Arish in the Sinai. For two weeks they trained to cut off the Egyptian retreat and to fight in an area covered with massive Egyptian artillery.

When the war began, the unit waited and soon became concerned that all the action was passing them by when they heard that 350 enemy planes were burning on the airfields of Sinai and Israeli armor had pushed the Egyptians back to El Arish.

Suddenly, Israel radio reported that the Jordanians had opened up with massive artillery fire on Jerusalem. "At that moment we knew that we, the paratroopers, would be fighting in Jerusalem," said Zamush. Without maps and armed only with Uzis and handguns, the unit's officers raced to Jerusalem.

"We found the city empty, and were greeted only by the wail of ambulances and numerous fires. We set up an observation post on the roof of a building near Sanhedria, opposite Jordanian-occupied Jerusalem, in order to survey the no-man's land between the police school on Ammunition Hill (opposite Ramat Eshkol) and our position."

"Our orders were: 'Take all of northeast Jerusalem, link up with Mt. Scopus, and wipe out the Jordanian Arab Legion on the front lines outside of the Old City. Do it at any price.' We prepared to take the Old City itself. We had to break through about eight rows of barbed wire, free beleaguered Mt. Scopus, take the Rockefeller Museum, Augusta Victoria, the Mount of Olives, and join up with the tanks which had broken through from Ramla." Yoram had already received a promise from Motta Gur, the brigade commander, that he, Yoram, would be given the honor of freeing the Temple Mount.

Yoram returned to Beit HaKerem where his unit was waiting and set up temporary headquarters in the home of the Cohen family. When Grandma Cohen heard what they were planning, she rushed home and returned with a hand-drawn flag which she herself had made upon her aliya in 1947. She said to Yoram, "If you reach the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, raise this flag there."

Yoram took the flag and went to war. To this day, he says, he has not forgotten the feeling as he left the warmth of the Cohen home and went out into the cold and dangerous night. Before they reached the border, the Jordanians spotted their buses, opened fire, and wounded 40. "We started to walk, our forces already depleted, ready to strike north of the Mandelbaum Gate." Suddenly there was a large boom, and at the same time searchlights began to light up the Jordanian positions. The Jordanians began to shoot blindly while Israeli troops slipped undetected through the hole made by the blast, from western to eastern Jerusalem. "The Jordanians began to run to Wadi Joz. Their mortars were placed next to the Cave of Shimon the Just. We wiped them out, but the battle continued for six hours. We lost a third of our unit. Later, as we were spread out along the Kidron Valley, licking our wounds, we began to realize the heavy toll that had been taken so far, both by our unit and those who had fought at Ammunition Hill and on Mount Scopus. Suddenly the order came -- take the Old City -- but this time to do it with minimum losses. After an unsuccessful joint attempt together with tanks to take out the Jordanian forces still on the Mount of Olives who were hindering our entry through the Lions' Gate, the airforce was sent in to do the job."

Then Commander Gur sent a tank up to Lions' Gate to break down the gate and he himself entered the Old City. Yoram Zamush, followed by his men, raced in and he was the first to reach the Temple Mount. They took the Mount, and found some Jordanian soldiers hiding in the Dome of the Rock. Zamush began to look for the way to the Western Wall. Someone brought him the key to the Mugrabi Gate, which is located next to the Wall. Someone else produced a set of tefillin (phylacteries) and everyone put them on, even those who did not really remember what to do with them.

Zamush: "I felt that at long last we had settled a score with the soldiers of Titus. It was the first time since the Temple had been destroyed by Titus that Jews, and Jews with weapons no less, walked freely on the Temple Mount. Suddenly I remembered Grandma Cohen's flag and proceeded to unfurl it over the Mount and the Wall."

Yoram Zamush concludes: "It was good fortune which brought me to that crossroads of history and bestowed upon me the privilege of being present for these important events in the history of our people. Two thousand years of yearning, hope, planning and love for Jerusalem preceded that moment, along with the blood of our best fighters."

Soon after the end of the Six-Day War, a group of veteran Jerusalemites started out from the Western Wall northward toward Hagai Street. This was no mere tourist walk; they had a specific objective. They remembered that there had been Jewish life not only in the Jewish Quarter but also in the "Moslem Quarter." Stories were told of an important Jewish institution, the Torat Haim Yeshiva, that had been located in the center of the Old City near the pathways leading to the Temple Mount.

When the group reached house No. 51, some pointed up to the third floor: "That's the place." Without being aware of the meaning of that historic moment, this was to be the first step in the beginning of the redemption of Jewish homes in what is mistakenly called the "Moslem Quarter."

"We climbed up a dark stairwell and reached the third floor," remembers lawyer Shabtai Zacharia, "and found ourselves at the entrance to a grand hall. We stood in shock, amazed. We found the old furniture from the yeshiva, the ark, the tables, and bookcases. We especially noticed the dusty holy books used by the yeshiva students so long ago. The hall was particularly impressive. We felt the walls of the building surround us with a special warmth -- an intimate Jewish atmosphere. We felt as if we could still hear the voices of the yeshiva students, voices heard here 50 years ago. Some books of Gamara and Mishnah were still out on the tables, as if the students had just finished learning from them. We were standing in the main hall of the Torat Haim Yeshiva."

The Loyal Arab Watchman

The yeshiva operated for 50 years, from 1886 to 1936, but the full story behind its restoration has to include the loyal Arab watchman. In 1931, the yeshiva hired Jodat Abdul Rani to guard the building. He had been a police sergeant during the British Mandate and was rumored to have a Jewish wife. In return for his services, he received an apartment for his family next to the yeshiva building, plus a small monthly salary. He fulfilled his task faithfully and more than once risked his own life to protect the building and its occupants.

In 1936, when the yeshiva's occupants fled the area in fear during the Arab riots, they took with them only the Torah scrolls. Jodat died in 1948, but before his death he bequeathed the task to his brother Muhammad Abdul Rani. Muhammad was a guard at the El Aksa mosque and a vegetable dealer at Damascus Gate. The Arab guard received permission to rent out the two yeshiva buildings except for the yeshiva hall and the room of books.

Until the War of Independence in 1948, Muhammad Abdul Rani continued to receive his regular monthly salary from the yeshiva. Then contact was cut off and everyone was sure that without a salary the protection would end. Yet an unexpected miracle occurred. Muhammad, who was sure the Jews would return to their homes in the Old City, continued to guard the place during 19 years of Jordanian rule. To keep away prying eyes, the guard collected nearly all the books and furniture in one small room, locked the door, and allowed no one to ever enter. He put his own furniture in the yeshiva hall to give it the impression of being lived in. In this way he guarded the place, its furniture, and its books in their entirety until the Jews returned after the Six-Day War. Over 2,500 books were found in the small locked room, as well as the Holy Ark and the Bimah (alter).

The Old Jewish Quarter

From the 19th century until the Arab riots of 1936, the area surrounding Saraya and Maale Hildiya Streets, the area closest to the Temple Mount, was populated by numerous Jewish families of varying origins. Home to a number of Torah and charitable institutions, the area is better called the Eastern Jewish Quarter or the Old Jewish Quarter, and is today once again home to a number of Jewish families.

On Hebron Street we notice a large white Star of David on the door of one of the houses, with a sign reading "Beit Vaad Hamaaravim" (Home of the Western Committee). "This house," recounted Shabtai Zacharia, "was the first one we bought, based on the historical research I conducted." The "Western" Jews, from North Africa to the west, are often thought of as poor. Nevertheless, they felt a strong pull to immigrate, not necessarily due to pressures of pogroms abroad but out of true longing for the Land of Israel. "As we explored the alleyways of the Old City after the Six-Day War," remembers Zacharia, "we reached this house and found the large metal sign still on the door, reading: "The Yeshiva, Talmud Torah, and Synagogues of the Western Community in Jerusalem."

The three-story building remained as it was when its Jewish residents left in 1936. In 1979 a group of graduates from the IDF's Hesder Yeshiva program took the initiative to restore the building. In a public meeting before Pesach 1978, Shabtai Zacharia raised the issue of restoring Jewish homes in the Moslem Quarter that lay vacant and ruined. The idea caught people's hearts, and young men began exploring the area, looking in courtyards for homes of Jews who had abandoned them in time of trouble.

Recalls Matitiyahu Dan Hacohen, who led the group working to restore the Jewish homes, "At first the Vaad Hamaaravim, still in existence in western Jerusalem and the owners of the ruined, empty building, were reluctant to give their agreement to our efforts. Then we told them we would build a yeshiva for Cohanim (temple priests) and they loved the idea."

At this time an organization called Atara Layoshna was established with the objective of identifying and restoring all Jewish property in the quarter. The group also established a yeshiva in Beit Hamaaravim for the study of Jewish law related to the Temple, named Torat Cohanim. After a few years, a new association was formed, known as Ateret Cohanim. Over the years the association has taken possession of and restored a number of buildings throughout the Old City.

Today, Jewish property in the area also includes the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva of the Bratslav Hassidim; the synagogue and Hazon Yehezkiel Institute of the family of Rabbi Nahman Kahana on Hagai Street; a center for the study of Jerusalem and the Temple in Beit Hahashmonaim on Saraya Street; the Zion HaMetzuyenet Synagogue in the courtyard of the Galicia Kollel; the courtyard of Rabbi Y.L. Diskin, the Brisker Rebbe; and Jewish homes on Hashalshelet Street (Street of the Chain) and Cotton Market Street.

On Iron Gate Street is the house of Rabbi Moshe Zaddik Danon, who came to Jerusalem with his family in 1886 from Bosnia. The three-story building also provides a view of the Temple Mount. The heirs of Rabbi Danon sold the building to Ateret Cohanim in 1985, and today it provides dormitory housing for 50 yeshiva students. On the eve of Purim 1991, when the rest of the country was celebrating the end of the Gulf War, yeshiva student Elhanan Atali was stabbed to death by Arabs opposite Beit Danon.

Israel's Minister of Agriculture and the Environment, former IDF Chief-of-Staff Gen. Rafael (Raful) Eitan, has been called "the Bar Kochba of the 20th century" and "the greatest Jewish fighter of our generation." The following excerpts from a recent interview reveal much about this authentic Jewish hero:

Q: At age 68, do you still have your strength?

A: Very much so. Not long ago I visited the village of Maale Tzvia where bedouin were cutting grass by hand with scythes. I took a scythe, rolled up my sleeves, and showed them how to cut like a machine, without much effort. I learned to use a scythe when I was a kid. My biological age seems to have had no effect on my strength and I can work just the same as when I was younger.

Q: During your heroic actions in wartime, how did you relate to the possibility of death?

A: Since I was never dead, I don't know what it is. When you go out on a military mission to attack the enemy, and you are in the midst of the situation, then for me at least, death has never been the issue. If this had preoccupied me, I would surely never have been able to do what I needed to do and what I've done without thinking twice.

Q: Do you mean it's not natural for a soldier to be afraid to die in battle?

A: It's not natural for me, but it may not be the same for others. I'll give you an example. Years ago when I was Chief-of-Staff, I was on the bridge of a patrol boat off the Lebanese coast opposite a terrorist base. Suddenly, the terrorists opened fire on the boat with 30mm anti- aircraft cannon. As the boat turned toward the sea, I suddenly noticed that all the other officers had left the bridge and taken cover below. I have no complaint with them, but I remained there alone on the bridge and saw how these huge tracer bullets passed above me and to the sides.

Q: Then why didn't you go below?

A: That's what I'm telling you; I'm not built that way. Why should I go below? What, I'm going to hide? I'm going to run away from bullets? Me, Raful? I don't run away from danger when I face it, especially in battle with the enemy. When we attacked the Katamon neighborhood in Jerusalem in the War of Independence, I was shot in the head, but I hadn't expected it to happen. Later in the action at Kinneret I attacked and was wounded again, but hadn't expected it. The same thing happened in the Six-Day War.

Q: Meaning, you don't accept it when a major in the paratroopers tells you that the reason he's for peace is that he's afraid to die in war?

A: No, I can't accept that. Whoever doesn't want to die shouldn't travel on the roads. More people are killed in traffic accidents than in wars. What will he answer me? That it won't happen to him? If you don't fight now, they'll come to your home later and shoot you, your wife, and your children. I've never asked a single soldier to act exactly like me. After all, to attack at the risk of death is unnatural. Good training, faith in your commanders, and the justice of your cause make you a soldier who can stand up against enemy fire, nothing else.

Q: How can we stand up against Hamas suicide bombers?

A: We need to use well-planned psychological warfare to change the minds of these suicide bombers who have been brainwashed to believe that if they blow themselves up for Palestine, they will go straight to the Garden of Eden where 72 virgins await them. We should take the keys to the Garden of Eden away from their leaders, using radio and television broadcasts in Arabic to explain to these young men that the whole story is a lie.

Q: Aren't you concerned that in the long run there is a chance that the Hamas suicide bombers will cause us so much damage as to endanger our whole system?

A: I heard the leader of Hizbollah claim that Israel will lose because they have suicide bombers and we don't. The Americans suffered heavy losses from Japanese kamikazes but they didn't lose the war. No one in history ever achieved victory using this method. There is an answer to suicide bombers. It's possible to hit them while they're still in bed sleeping and planning their death. The problem is that we don't do enough in this direction.

Q: Are you hinting that if the security services did more, the attacks could be prevented?

A: This is a real and difficult question, and I say that the answer is yes. There has been a serious decline in the intelligence activities of the security services, and I also heard a well-known army general say that he doesn't want to undertake initiatives against Hizbollah because this might hurt the peace process.

Q: In your book A Soldier's Story, you claim that the IDF's going beyond the 40 kilometer line in the Lebanon War was no mistake and that then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon did not mislead Prime Minister Menachem Begin?

A: Sharon did not mislead Begin, that's a fact. The account in my book is based upon the official minutes of the Cabinet. The government knew everything, all the time. Already on the evening of the decision to go to war, Beirut was discussed. I personally presented the maps to the Cabinet, with arrows marked on it reaching to the Beirut-Damascus highway.

Israeli travel writer Aviva Bar-Am describes her first meeting with Eran Shamir during a tour of the Golan Heights in 1993. Shamir was doing pre-army service as a guide for the Society for the Protection of Nature. "He knew the details of every battle in the Golan. He made us burst with pride over hair-raising tales of selfless heroism, and caused the grown- ups to cry unashamedly when he related how some of the men had lost their lives." Shamir went on to become a paratrooper and lost his life in Lebanon in May 1997. Bar-Am will never forget "the gentle young man with the spark of a patriot in his eye, who had fallen in battle like the heroes he admired so much."

Prof. Ehud Netzer of the School of Archeology at Hebrew University has resumed digging at Herodion, the grand palace built by King Herod on a mountaintop southeast of Jerusalem. The archeological excavations had been suspended 10 years ago with the outbreak of the intifada. According to Josephus and other sources, King Herod was buried at Herodion but his tomb has never been found. Netzer also spoke of plans to replant the lush gardens that had existed at the foot of the mountain in Herod's day.

Yitzhak Rosenberg, Chief Planning and Construction Engineer for the Etzion Bloc Regional Council, reports on current housing construction in northern Judea.

• In Alon Shvut, 222 units have been approved for the new southern neighborhood and the Housing Ministry has agreed to fund the initial infrastructure.

• Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim has decided to build 90 homes in a new neighborhood open to the general public, whose residents would enjoy living at the kibbutz without being kibbutz members.

• Carmei Tzur has a verbal agreement from the Housing Ministry for funding the infrastructure of 40 new homes.

• Metzad has received a similar agreement on assistance for the infrastructure of 50 homes.

• In Kedar, 42 homes are currently being completed.

In addition, construction of 550 homes in the Givat Hazayit neighborhood of Efrat is now underway, as well as continued construction in the new ultra-Orthodox town of Betar.

Tekoa is a community of 200 families located in eastern Gush Etzion, twenty minutes southeast of Jerusalem and 15 minutes east of Efrat, just opposite the ancient mountain fortress of Herodion. Tekoa is open to all Jews -- religious, non-religious, and everything in between. The Tekoa elementary school, Ahdut Yisrael (Unity of Israel), reflects this spirit of openness. Founded nine years ago, the school has children from non- religious homes learning together with those from religious homes, according to the philosophy that we are all One People.

Thirty houses are currently under construction in Tekoa -- 100 sq. m. with an option to expand, on a half-dunam plot. They cost $120,000 and many have already been sold. The builder is planning to construct 80 to 100 new houses over the next two years. In addition, registration has already begun for the 45 plots in the "Build Your Own Home" neighborhood for those who want to build their dream home. The maximum cost for the plot including infrastructure is $25,000, and this may be reduced.

For more details, please call Amiel Ungar (English or Hebrew) -- (02) 996-4791 or Ariella Zim (Hebrew) -- 996-4493.

The Jewish village of Carmei Tzur rests on a plateau at the southern edge of the Etzion Bloc in northern Judea. Its first settlers were from the hesder (army) yeshiva in Alon Shvut, who established their new community as a link between Hebron and the Etzion Bloc during Hanukkah 1984.

There are 70 families in Carmei Tzur today, with plans for expansion. Carmei Tzur currently boasts a carpentry shop, two factories for Judaica artwork, a grocery store, high-tech industry for computer software, and even an insurance agency.

Located between the Arab villages of Beit Omar and Halhul, the residents of Carmei Tzur have been exposed to violence since the intifada, and have determinedly continued to build a life for themselves and their families.

One of its long-time residents is Estie Uliel, mother of four, who has a master's degree in genetics and teaches biology in the Etzion Bloc. She explains, "We came here because we felt that it was the right thing to do. We moved into houses built by the Israeli government with the encouragement of the government. Here we felt and continue to feel that we would be a part of the continuation of Zionism, which is the force building this country."

"The most important aspect of our lives here is that each family lives as individuals, and yet has community spirit. No one gets too involved with the other's business, we believe in live and let live. Yet we all share the common belief in what we are doing here."

"Before the intifada we used to walk down the road to catch the bus and not worry about any violence. The intifada changed all that, as it brought continued violent attacks against civilian and army vehicles on the road."

"Since the Oslo agreements we have seen an escalation in the violence. Many rocks are thrown. The mayor of Beit Omar had very good relations with us, but recently he was interviewed on Israeli radio and was very open about the friendly atmosphere between the Israelis and the Arabs in the neighborhood. Because of that interview, the mayor was replaced by the Palestinian Authority with someone who has no relationship with the Jewish residents in the area."

"The important thing is to give the children a normal life. We have over 200 children here who travel back and forth twice a day on the roads to the school in the Etzion Bloc. Yet there is a very strong community life in Carmei Tzur itself in the afternoons and evenings for both the children and the adults. Recently we began to build a community center to allow the children to participate in activities safely within the village. Here both the children and the adults will be able to study arts and crafts, religious studies, and have a library and study room."

"We are very optimistic about the future. The life is wonderful here and we feel ourselves very lucky to be able to be here."

You can assist in making the Carmei Tzur community center a reality. Contributions can be made through the One Israel Fund/Yesha Heartland Campaign, 17 East 45th St., Suite 610; Tel. 212-286-1748, Fax 212-286- 0711.

Over 500,000 bees used to pollinate fruit trees were recently stolen from 3 Etzion Bloc kibbutzim -- Kfar Etzion, Migdal Oz, and Rosh Tzurim. Members of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim discovered a hole in their fence and tracks leading to the nearby Arab village of Nahalin. On the way they recovered hives containing 150,000 bees.

This is not the first time that the Arabs of Nahalin have stolen agricultural products from area kibbutzim. Not long ago they stole a flock of sheep from Givaot.