Hill 24 Doesn't Answer

Hill 24 is one of the foothills dominating the approach to Jerusalem. The night before a cease-fire, to be imposed by the United Nations to stop the Israeli-Arab war, four Israeli volunteers set out to hold the hill until morning, in order to be able to claim it for Israel. The four men exchange their stories on the way to Hill 24: James Finnegan met Miriam Miszrahi during the time of the British Mandate in Palestine. He was a British-army investigator and she a member of the underground. After his discharge, Finnegan returned to Israel and joined Miriam and the Israeli forces; Allan Goodman, an American tourist, was drawn into the fighting for the Old City of Jerusalem. He was wounded and met a rabbi who inspired his course through religious training; Esther Hadassi is a Yemonite who recalls the beauty of her birthplace, the Jerusalm hills; the fourth volunteer, a young Israelite named David Airam, tells of a recent incident that happened on patrol in the Negev Desert. He had captured a wounded prisoner who turned out to be a former Nazi officer in WW II, who killed himself in a fit of hatred against Jews. The volunteers arrive at Hill 24. The title tells all.