Exodus - Leon Uris [203]
“Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul ...”
Kitty lowered the glases. “Why Ari, you are poetic.”
“It is the altitude. Everything is so removed from up here. Look over there—Beth Shean Valley. Beth Shean tel holds the oldest civilized city in the world. David knows more about these than I do. There are hundreds of tels around Palestine. He says that if we were to start excavating them now our modern cities would be ruins by the time we are finished. You see, Palestine is the bridge of history here and you are standing on the center of the bridge. Tabor has been a battleground since men made axes out of stone. The Hebrews stood against the Romans here and between the Crusaders and the Arabs it changed hands fifty times. Deborah hid here with her army and swooped down on the Canaanites. The battleground of the ages ... You know what we say? ... that Moses should have walked the tribes for another forty years and found a decent place.”
They walked over the plateau through a pine forest with relics of Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Arab all around. Mosaics, pottery, a wall here, a stone there.
Two abbeys, one Greek Orthodox and one Roman Catholic, stood near the grounds believed to be the place Christ was transfigured and spoke to Moses and Elijah.
Beyond the forest they reached the highest point on Tabor. Ruins of a Crusader fort and Saracen castle occupied the site. They picked their way over the rubble and the walls until they had climbed the eastern rampart which hung over the mountain side and was called Wall of the East Winds. Here the Sea of Galilee came into full view with the Horns of Hattin where Saladin the Kurd demolished Crusader forces.
The wind blew through Kitty’s hair as she stood on the wall and the air began to cool again. They sat for over an hour with Ari pointing out the countless points of Biblical history. Finally they retreated to that point on the edge of the forest where it met the castles, and changed back to their warmer clothing. Ari spread their blankets and Kitty stretched out and grunted with a weary happiness. “It has been a wonderful day, Ari, but I am going to ache for a week.”
Ari propped himself up on an elbow, watched her. Again he felt a desire for her but he held his silence.
By dusk, parties of threes and fours and fives began reaching the summit. There were dark and olive-skinned Orientals and Africans and there were blonds who had immigrated to Israel. There were many girls, most of them straight and high breasted. There were the sabras with their large mustaches and the stamp of aggressiveness. It was a reunion. Palmach groups had to train in small units in different kibbutzim to remain hidden. This was a chance for both friends from the city and from the same settlements to see each other again and for sweethearts to meet. The greetings were warm, with affectionate hugs and back slaps and kisses. They were a lively bunch of youngsters in their late teens and early twenties.
Joab Yarkoni and Zev Gilboa had come when they learned Kitty would be there, and she was delighted.
David and Jordana came also, and Jordana was provoked by David’s attention to Kitty, but she remained quiet to avoid creating a scene.
By dusk nearly two hundred of the young Palmach soldiers had gathered. A pit was dug near the castle wall, while some of them turned to gathering wood for an all-night fire. Three lambs were prepared and spitted for roasting. The sun plunged