An assembly was held at Palmarea, near Acre, to discuss future activities of the crusaders in the east. Forty-one people are named as present by William of Tyre, with many others whom he omits out of ignorance (Germans) or reasons of space (French and Palestinians). Beginning from the emperor Conrad III, he lists five German bishops and eight lay lords, three French bishops and four lay lords (including the king) and from the Palestinian kingdom ten ecclesiatical and eleven lay leaders (including king Baldwin III and his mother Melisende). After long discussions, it was decided to attack Damascus