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POLITICO CHESS The manifestation of 80 kilometers of unbroken prayer extending across Israel from Gush Katif to the Wailing Wall, was of a likes never seen before. People began arriving around 5pm, by bus, by car, by foot. By 6:45pm one voice of thousands filled the skies. By 7:00pm, sentimental hands were joined in accordance with rabbinic guidance. Separate sections for men and women were set up along Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. Rabbinical determination paskened men and women, unrelated to each other, could stand side by side, in support of their common goal. Organizers of the chain, from Gush Katif and the Yesha Council, said "Our message is straightforward." "We recognize that the fate of Gush Katif reflects the ultimate fate of the entire State of Israel." Veterans of Israel's War of Independence stood at the entrance to Jerusalem, their color guard a unique tapestry of historical politics, war and religion- living victims of terrorism, disabled vets, former prisoners, immigrants new to the Holy Land, reservists, Knesset members and families of the dead buried in Gush Katif. First in line, was Shlomit Shamir, a resident of Jewish Gaza, 40 years back. Last in line was Yael Better, his 6 year old granddaughter, placing the traditional note of supplication. It was more than symbolic. A few days shy of Tisha B'av, mourning the Temples' destruction, she asked, on behalf of world Jewry, for peace in an intact Holy Land. Kfar Darom spokesman Asher Mivtzari wrongly said there would not be any holes in the chain. There were. The murdered were not there. Yesha veteran Yoel Tzur offered in prayer love for "this precious gift- the Land of Israel." He lost his wife and son in a terrorist attack 8 years ago. Also missing was a soldier, a twenty year old Israel Defense Forces officer, facing, if convicted of homicide, life imprisonment. The officer, acting correctly in his job, shot a British anti-Israel militant aiding Palestinian terrorists. The victim died of pneumonia after being transferred back to the United Kingdom for medical care. The British government's unprecedented "campaign of pressure, intimidation and diplomatic threats" to bring the IDF officer to trial deftly turned world attention away from British media's innumerable stories on deaths in British hospitals from unsanitary conditions. The Express, the Daily Mail and other publications report on bereaved families mourning loved ones across the country, dying in healthcare. British media front pages are plastered with concerns over a multiplying population asylum seekers with suspected connections to terrorist groups, supported by Parlementarians, despite the financial chokehold on the economy. Recruitment for PLO supporters is plastered on walls around the UK. But the value of a life of a Jew, soldier doing his job or otherwise, was stated into history during World War II. Author Edwin Black, in his book, "IBM and The Holocaust," documents the memorandum between the heads of IBM and The Reich, determining at which point Hollerith cards were an unnecessary expense. It was determined the life of a jew, enroute to the Ovens was not worth the price of one punch card. To a Jew, saving one life is as if to save the whole world. It hardly feels, it was a few months back, I visited at the Fairmont Hotel with Israeli media preparing to return home after Prime Minister Sharon met with President George W Bush. There is something to be said about catching newsmen in a relaxed moment. The Hands For Prayer bond strengthening Jewish resolve caused me to think about one newsman's words as we sat on sofas in the hotel lobby. "It is not what he said that scares us," he said referencing Sharon's closed door meetings Israeli media were excluded from until a formal statement was made, "it is what he didn't say, what we were not allowed to hear, that scares us to death." That day, my walk home took longer than it should have. I pulled my collar up around my neck. There was no wind yet I was chilled then as I am today by the political game of contemporary chess played with human lives. Pregnant mothers, soldiers, and brothers lost to the touch of hands, united in prayer. BIO: Carrie Devorah is an award winning photojournalist based in Washington DC. She is the sister of bomb murder victim Yechezkel Chezi Scotty Goldberg murdered January 29 2004 on Bus 19, in Jerusalem, one block away from Prime Minister Sharon's residence.