At the UN meeting at Lake Success, New York, the member countries meet to vote on a partition of Palestine for the establishment of a Jewish state. Since the majority the Jews are required to obtain must be gained in the face of the Arab nations all voting against them, they have to do what seems impossible, and win both the democratic nations of the West and the Communist bloc led by the Soviet Union. Despite the long odds against them, the global vote for the establishment of a Jewish state by partition is overwhelming.

Muslim-majority countries around the world immediately vow to go to war against any future Jewish state. The rest of the world, still weary from World War II, is not inclined to get involved any further: “[I]f the Jews intended to declare statehood after the British left, they would have the face the Arab hordes alone” (485).

Agents for the Yishuv desperately scour the world for weapons as violence breaks out across Palestine. Ari, still recovering from his wound, helps organize the defense of Galilee, where the hilltop town of Safed has become a major goal of Arab attacks. Their position is hopeful, however, because the British are set to turn over Fort Esther, the Taggart fort above Gan Dafna, to the Jews.