Book 2, Chapters 7-12 Summary

By this time, the Rabinskys know every corner and job in Palestine but personally drift apart. Jossi is relatively content and believes in Jewish-Arab coexistence, while restless, bitter Yakov holds that Arabs understand only force. Yakov joins a daring experimental farm at Sde Tov ("Field of Goodness"), while Jossi works for the Dr. Schumann Foundation, buying land for "returnees." Dressed in Arab fashion astride a white Arabian stallion and cracking a bullwhip, Jossi at thirty cuts a dashing figure. Most effendis will sell to Jews only swamplands that they are sure are useless, but Kammal is different, having studied in Cairo and battled Turkish red tape and Arab backwardness to make Abu Yesha the most advanced Arab village in Galilee, though it is still primitive. He and Jossi become friends, and he teaches Jossi why Arabs mistrust outsiders.

In...