Book 4, Chapter 7 Summary

The Siege of Safed, begun the day after the U.N. partition vote, is certain to turn to open warfare when the British withdraw in the spring. The Arabs hold all key strategic points, and the Cabalists have historically been pacifists. Ari sends in fifty Palmachniks led by Yarkoni, whose Moroccan experience allows him to capitalize on the Arabs' unnatural fear of the dark. Jewish morale stays high as rations and ammunition run critically low. Ari, who finds Safed no worse off than the rest of Palestine, sends in a strange-looking contraption, the Davidka mortar. Examining it, the Cabalists debate doomsday, but the chief rabbi blesses it and calls on the Messiah to spare their community for its obedience to the Law. They aim it at the Arab-held police station, hope it will not explode in their faces and level houses...