ON HIS WATCH I

On the other side, Commander Gallo Francis watched as the vanguard of his squad raced to confront the approaching raiders or bandits. It was hard to make a distinction since they were all after the same thing, plunder and kill Christian pilgrims or warriors whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Ever since the first crusade, Christians in this land were always at risk of being attacked. It did not matter whether it was in: Acre, Syria, or Jerusalem. As long as they identified as Christian, the Muslim Arabs could always find fault with them.8

The fact that the Muslim forces under Saladin had failed to hold on to the city of Jaffa was a big blow to the Muslim psyche. They could not accept that the Christian forces had retained a foothold on what they considered Muslim land. They wanted to subjugate, kill, or expel the Christian forces back to Europe, Arabia, and Africa, which were considered defacto-Muslim lands.