Chapter 28 Summary

Ten years older than when the story begins, the Arab notables gather in Cairo and call for Arab unity against a west that appears to have carved them up. Shukri is more nervous and angrier than Sharif. The Zionists nearly have the beleaguered Turkish government in their pocket. Killings are commonplace throughout the Arab lands and will grow more frequent if the Europeans go to war among themselves. They are in a race to subjugate the world: France by brute strength, Italy by terror, Britain by double-dealing, and the Zionists by stealth. Egypt can only absorb people and events. Sharif looks at Nur's grown trees and wants to protect her. Her cousins are already preparing for lives of battle, not of their own making. Anna tries to console Sharif with all he has accomplished.

Layla wishes the occupation had not occurred, that their...