Book 2, Chapters 15-19 Summary

At seventeen, Ari is tall, strong, fluent in six languages and loves farming and biblical archaeology. Dafna is earthy and attractive. It is assumed they will marry early, but Ari is frequently away on Haganah and Mossad operations. The lovers' separations are painful, and they spend their little free time together in Tel Aviv enjoying the growing culture brought by the German Aliyah. The Jews' progress unites the feuding effendis, who demand the British stop the influx. Haj Amin forms a "Higher Arab Committee" with himself as head and uses thugs to enforce a general strike and assassinate opponents, including Kammal. Taha is whisked into hiding in the Ben Canaan home. The Yushiv orders Avidan to show restraint, but Akiva and the Maccabees cannot be controlled. They trade terror for terror. Haj Amin calls for liberating Palestine from imperialism...