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Summary
Chapter Ten
Kitty and Ari go to the Sea of Galilee together for an overnight trip. After dinner, they take a boat to visit the kibbutz of Ein Gev and listen to a musical performance. That night, the two are about to spend the night together, but Kitty puts a stop to it. The next morning, she tries to find Ari to apologize, but he has left the hotel.
Chapter Eleven
Dov learned how to steal to survive in the Polish ghetto, so it comes naturally to him now in Jerusalem as he awaits word from the Maccabees. When he’s not finding food, he stays holed up in his inexpensive hotel room studying, and missing Karen. He is finally visited by the Maccabees, and they blindfold him and put him in a car. Dov is so familiar with the streets of Jerusalem at this point that he knows exactly where the car takes him, based on sounds and the turns the car makes. Dov is told he will work on forgeries for the group and he takes the Maccabee oath.
A car full of Maccabees, disguised as Caldwell’s British transport team, pick Caldwell up. They are avenging the death of Ben Solomon. When confronted, Caldwell tells the Maccabees what he knows about British plans and then vomits out of fear. Caldwell is killed and his body is left on Mount Zion, a picture of young Ben Solomon pinned to his uniform.
Chapter Twelve
The British are enraged by Caldwell’s death, and there is growing pressure on the government to give up the mandate altogether. Then a young Maccabee woman who had been tortured by the British Criminal Investigation Division dies and the Maccabees go on a fourteen-day rampage, dubbed “Hell’s Fortnight.” Dov makes a name for himself during this time because he is fearless.
Haven-Hurst places the Yishuv under martial law and commerce slows to a crawl. Ahead of the UN delegation, Haven-Hurst personally gathers a small band of British officers that he knows hold anti-Jewish sympathies. He orders them to drive a dynamite truck into two buildings. When the Zion Settlement Building is hit, one hundred people die, including Harriet Saltzman. The truck heading for Yishuv Central gets derailed and no one dies. The Maccabees soon discern that the truck drivers disguised as Palestinian Arabs were British officers. Haven-Hurst’s plan backfires, as it causes the Maccabees and the Haganah to finally collaborate. The groups start destroying railroad lines and British records on Mossad’s activities. Then, they target Haven-Hurst. They find out he has a mistress. In a carefully orchestrated sting, Haven-Hurst is killed, and the British are blackmailed with evidence of his affair. This slows the terrorism on both sides for a time.
Chapter Thirteen
Karen tells Kitty she cannot leave Palestine, but Kitty misses her home in America. She is still not comfortable in Palestine, as she is not Jewish and feels like an outsider. Kitty makes the case for America and tells Karen that Jewish people have deep-rooted pride there too. Still, Karen loves living in Palestine. Karen then receives a letter from Dov saying he has a girlfriend and is happy with the Maccabees and is not coming back to Gan Dafna. After reading the letter, Karen agrees to go to America.
Analysis
Kitty is more drawn in by Palestine as time goes on, and she realizes that being with Ari makes her feel closer to this mysterious place and the history it represents. Ari is the embodiment of a free Israel. Just like his father and his uncle, everything he does is for his people and land. This feeling of being closer to Palestine is alarming for Kitty because she is determined to leave, her attraction to Ari notwithstanding. When Kitty does not sleep with Ari, his pride and his feeling are hurt. There is no evidence that he has been attracted to any woman since Dafna. Here again, Kitty reveals herself to be self-centered. She and Ari are clearly attracted to each other, and she has agreed to go on an overnight trip with him. She has allowed her attraction to him to get the better of her and it has resulted in her making them both feel foolish. This turn of events does come as a bit of a surprise, though, after Ari’s veiled warning from Chapter Nine when he tells Kitty that it is not a good idea to try to get Dov back at Gan Dafna. Ari says that Dov has made his decision and will only end up hurting Karen. It can be implied that Ari is actually talking about himself and Kitty as well. Now, it is Kitty who has hurt the stoic Ari.
When Dov leaves Gan Dafna, he does so for selfless reasons and not with his own best interests in mind. When he arrived at Caraolos, he was completely mired in his own pain and bitterness. He had given up all communication with other people. It was Karen that started breaking him out of that darkness. Now, although he was thriving at Gan Dafna, he leaves because he thinks it will help Karen. He is once again alone in an unfamiliar place as he was when he became an orphan. Dov soon meets Akiva in his new life as a Maccabee. Dov will have to prove himself, but the two men get along well. They do not know it when they first meet, but they have much in common. They have both become filled with hate for those who oppress them and are action-oriented to the point of often harming themselves or others. They are foils for Karen and Barak who are reasonable and compassionate. By joining the Maccabees, Dov has accomplished the goal that he talked about back in Caraolos. He has joined a group that will allow him to kill.
The terror of Hell’s Fortnight is shocking not only for the British, but for everyone in Palestine. After so many years of restraint, the Jewish people are striking out with a savagery and coordination that they have rarely displayed. Having raised an army in secret and with no help from another country, the Jewish people have developed an elite, organized army with an intelligence apparatus that rivals the British. During the attacks that follow Hell’s Fortnight and culminate with Haven-Hurst’s death, the British learn not to underestimate the Jewish people. They consistently answer British attacks, all while continuing to mock the British by bringing in immigrants on Mossad Aliyah Bet ships. This is a major turning point for the Jewish forces, as they began with the conviction that they would strike in defense only. Now Jewish forces are being pro-active, attacking without specific provocation. Rather, the Jewish people have assessed the deteriorating environment in Palestine under an incompetent British occupation and have decided proactive violence against the British is their best and only option. In a pattern that repeats throughout the novel and in Jewish history, the Jewish people have been radicalized by their treatment, much like Akiva and Dov have been. The Jewish people now feel a collective hatred of their oppressors and they are striking out in revenge.
