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Summary
Chapter Eight
Ari stays up all night studying maps and documents having to do with the British operation in Cyprus. Then he and David go to inspect the camps at Caraolos. The compounds are full of bitter and angry people who lived through the horrors of concentration camps. Sometimes a young member of the Palmach who had been sent to work with the refugees recognizes Ari and bombards him with questions about Palestine. David is disgusted by the injustice of the situation. The entire camp is surrounded by barbed wire, and he remarks that German prisoners of war have more freedom than the Jewish refugees.
Then the men arrive at the children’s compound. It’s completely different from the adult areas because it is full of activity and life. There are permanent structures that serve as a school and hospital. Here, Ari is reunited with his young friend and member of the Palmach, Joab Yarkoni. The Palmach had been smuggling young Jewish refugees out of the camp a few at a time, but Ari plans to get three hundred out at once. To pull off his plan, he needs an expert forger. Joab knows of a young man who excels at faking paperwork, but who refuses to work. Ari meets with forger, seventeen-year-old Dov Landau from Poland. Dov is angry and bitter and spits out a sharp refusal to help Ari. Dov spent time in a concentration camp and distrusts everyone. Ari promises Dov that if he helps, he will get on a boat to Palestine and if he doesn’t, he will be the last person out of Caraolos camp. With the promise of freedom, Dov agrees to become Ari’s forger.
That night, David, Joab, and Zev Gilboa wait for Ari in Mandria’s home. Zev, a member of the Palmach, has been at Caraolos heading up military training of the young refugees. Using the playground as a training field, Zev improvises with brooms, rocks, and bedsprings to train a small army. Ari arrives and tells Zev to choose three hundred of the strongest children in the camp, ages ten to seventeen, and train them for their impending escape.
The next day, Mandria drives Ari all over Cyprus on what seems to the Cypriot to be a random series of stops. Ari is focused on this task all day and barely speaks to Mandria. When Mandria gets word that a boat has been secured for the escape, he, Ari, David, and Joab go to look at it. On their way to see the boat, the group sees more compounds being built to house more Jewish refugees. When they arrive at the harbor, the Turkish owner of the ship proudly shows the men his boat, Aphrodite. It’s old but the owner assures the group that she can make it the two hundred miles to Palestine. Ari lets his friends know that they will be aboard the ship when it brings the three hundred young refugees to Palestine. They are all going home. David is tasked with giving the boat a name and he chooses Exodus.
Chapter Nine
Mark and Kitty spend the day together in the mountains of Cyprus, and Kitty feels re-energized by being with her old friend. Meanwhile, Ari is outside the Dome Hotel where Mark and Kitty are staying, sizing up the chances of the Exodus getting in and out of the harbor safely. When he’s finished, he enters the hotel and finds Mark and Kitty. First, he asks Mark to make the escape attempt news by filing a story as soon as the children board Exodus. Ari wants to make news in hopes of getting the British to break their immigration policy. Then, he asks Kitty to reconsider the job opportunity to work as a nurse at Caraolos. Kitty doesn’t want to get involved. When he leaves, Kitty cannot get Ari’s visit off her mind, even though she confesses to Mark that she’s usually uncomfortable around Jewish people. Ultimately, Kitty decides to visit the camp, but only to get it out of her system so that she can move on.
Chapter Ten
Kitty arrives at Caraolos for a tour and meets David. He has dubbed Ari’s escape plan Operation Gideon, after a story in the Bible in which three hundred soldiers were chosen to challenge the Midianites. Now, three hundred Jewish children will challenge the British. David and Ari show Kitty around, Ari watching Kitty for any sign of softening toward the idea of working at the camp. Kitty is horrified by the physical state of some of the detainees, but she is determined to take the tour and leave. However, when they arrive at the children’s camp, Kitty is captivated by a young girl named Karen who is reading to some of the youngest refugees. She asks Ari if she can meet her.
Analysis
Ari’s visit to the camps at Caraolos shines an unforgiving light on the continued injustice suffered by the survivors of concentration camps at the hands of the British. The people at Caraolos have been targeted for their identity during the Holocaust and then worked nearly to death in many cases. Now, their liberators continue to pen them in and forbid them to return to Palestine. They live in tattered clothes and are conditioned towards hatred and distrust. Ari can see this damage in their eyes when he tours the camp. The condition of the detainees greatly affects the sensitive David. Even though he is familiar with Caraolos, the conditions are an affront to his sense of righteousness.
The mood at the children’s compound stands in stark contrast to the bitterness of the adults. Although many of the children there have never known life outside barbed wire, they are mostly happy. The Palmach spends a great deal of time there, teaching the children not only academics but self-defense and skills they need to survive as future refugees. However, though seventeen years old and technically still a child, Dov Landau carries the hatred and bitterness of the adults at Caraolos. He is unwilling at first to work as a forger, but Ari’s no-nonsense approach and promise of getting to Palestine convinces Dov to help. Dov is proof that all is not lost, even for someone who had experienced great trauma and cruelty. In spite of the terrible conditions, the children’s compound represents the future of Israel and the Jewish people.
Ari is established in this chapter as a fearless leader. His friends know not to question his plans, no matter how unlikely they seem to succeed. Mandria is just getting to know Ari and wants to impress him by doing what he can to facilitate the escape plan. He rarely receives the acknowledgement he wants from Ari though, as the tall, strong Palestinian seems almost inhuman in his stoicism. Mandria marvels at Ari’s mental and physical stamina. The tour of the Aphrodite illustrates that the Mossad does not have the luxury of choosing ideal vessels. Ari relies on the word of Mandria, who has made his money in shipping, to vouch for the ship’s abilities. Still, Ari will negotiate the price with the Turkish owner of the ship, and he will have to rely on his small crew of friends to outfit the ship for the journey. Ari waits until the purchase of the ship is official to let Zev, David, and Joab know that they will be the crew on the escape mission. This reveals his practical nature, and that he knows how important the trip back to Palestine is for his young friends. He has been away from home for extended periods, as they are now, and he knows the excitement they feel at the prospect of returning. Above all, Ari respects the bond of home and freedom that connects him to these men.
Kitty and Ari’s first meeting is filled with sarcasm and verbal barbs. Kitty is drawn to Ari, who appears casual and charming during their first meeting, but she is not completely comfortable around him. Although Ari does not seem troubled by the idea of discussing his propositions for Mark and Kitty while surrounded by British officers in the dining hall of the hotel, Mark recognizes that Ari is a Mossad agent and suggests that the group have a discussion in his hotel room instead. This is a tool that builds suspense in this chapter, as parts of the bigger picture are revealed, while the entirety of the story is still a mystery. When Mark hears of his potential role in the escape, the journalist in him cannot help himself but jump at the chance to be involved. Unlike Mark, who reported on the war and Nuremberg trials, Kitty is unwilling to take a political side. However, by flatly refusing to consider the position at the camp, Kitty reveals that she does indeed lean toward the more familiar British side. She does not want to cause trouble for herself by getting involved with the camps. When Kitty confesses her reservations about working with Jewish people to Mark, he scolds her. Kitty does not yet understand the complex situation that the Palestinian Jewish people are in, and she has refused to work at the camps based on her simplistic and prejudiced opinion of Jewish people generally.
Kitty continues to come across as somewhat cold and desirous to cut ties with the idea of working with Jewish people when she arrives at Caraolos. She is steadfast in her decision to refuse the job there and thwart her attraction to Ari. Kitty is brought through the camp in a strategic way so that she sees all the worst that it has to offer. Although Kitty is deeply troubled by the human carnage she witnesses, she tells Ari that she is comfortable with the number of supplies available in the hospital and sees that even the worst cases of disease and illness are being attended to. In fact, had she had not met Karen, Kitty would have left the camp then and there. Kitty laying eyes on Karen for the first time, and requesting to meet with her, sets up what will become a powerful mother-daughter relationship that blooms between the two women. It is a bond that will save them both. Over the next few years, Kitty’s relationship with Karen will offer her closure and some measure of solace after suddenly losing her young daughter. Likewise, Karen, who has lost two sets of parents, will be able flourish around someone whom she knows will protect her at all costs.
