CHAPTER EIGHT

Of all Tom's predictions, the one that there would be a brink of war situation in the Middle East over the Passover/Easter holidays at the end of March is the second most impressive. (I will be writing about his most impressive prediction later in this chapter.) At the time it was made, the world's Press and politicians were expressing optimistic views of the Middle East situation, for Dr Kissinger was just embarking on another peace-seeking mission and hopes ran high that he would be able to persuade the Israelis to cede some of their strategic 1973 gains in Sinai in exchange for an Egyptian non-aggression agreement. Nobody foresaw at 'the beginning of March that Kissinger's mission would be a total failure and that before the end of the month the Arabs and the Israelis would be making missile-rattling pronouncements. On 24 March Kissinger returned to Washington a disappointed man, and a Times headline asked 'Has Dr Kissinger made his last stand as the American Superman?' Correspondents from Egypt quoted the Foreign Minister as saying that 'the breakdown had brought the Middle East to a "dim point" due to "Israel arrogance" and a new military conflict could not be excluded' and from Israel came the report that the Prime Minister 'accused Egypt of making exorbitant demands and causing the collapse of Dr Kissinger's peace mission with the aim of facilitating its war deployment'. There were reports of Egyptian troop movements on the East Bank of Suez and of a massive troop build-up on the West bank. With three days to go before the critical time predicted by Tom in the communication of 7 March, the situation seemed quite as dire as he had said it would be.

It is worth noting in passing that two earlier predictions could be taken as referring to the events of these days. On 9 November 1974, Tom had said that within six months Kissinger would have problems and there would be attempts to discredit and remove him. And before they had left Israel in December, Tom had told them that the situation was now stabilised and would hold for three months.

The intervening three months hadn't exactly been peaceful. In January, skirmishing on the Israel-Lebanon border had escalated into what the Times called a 'mini-war', when the Lebanese army had apparently lent support to the Al Fatah guerrillas operating from Lebanese territory. Then there had been an audacious and suicidal terrorist attack from the sea on a Tel Aviv hotel, and the Israelis had learnt from the one prisoner they took that Syria was involved in this operation. Border raids and terrorist activities were everyday news, and by March there was a widespread feeling that the Kissinger initiative was the last hope for peace.

Andrija, John and Phyllis arrived in Israel on 12 March. They picked up their hired car at the airport and drove at a leisurely speed over the rocky but green hills of Judea and through the Arab towns of Ramallah, Nablus, Tubas and Jenin to their destination, Nazareth, where they checked into the best hotel they could find, a place that managed to be at once modern and seedy.

Tom had said that they should be at Megiddo on the 13th, so after an early breakfast they drove the twelve miles across the plain to the historic site. They spent the morning strolling over the mound, exploring it and collecting shards of ancient pottery which lay in profusion on the ground. They also collected specimens of a curious black stone which, Andrija said, was to be found only at Megiddo. They wandered around separately for some time, then found themselves together at the so-called Canaanite altar, the circular platform of rough stones situated in the middle of the deepest excavation and from which there is a panoramic view across the plain to the hills of Galilee. Here they were sufficiently undisturbed by tourists to hold a brief communication, which they did seated upon the altar.

Tom complimented them on so precisely locating the nucleus of the energy centre of Megiddo, and said that the middle of the altar was 'the core of a giant wheel that vibrates in twelve directions'.

Andrija asked, 'Was the Nazarene aware of this energy centre?'

'Yes,' Tom said. 'It was what fed him. It was from where the light came to keep him alight.'

Andrija asked about the black rocks and was given an explanation of their origin: 'We go back to a time of ten to twelve thousand of your BC. It was the time of the collapse of the continents upon which the Alteans existed. There were great explosions, and there also came from the sky the wrath of those that were in utter disgust at the perversion of the Alteans. Part of this came and landed upon the area of Megiddo and made a giant crater which then created a giant natural spring. There was a bombardment from the sky and the natives of the area were fearful, but because it had created water it represented those that had given them life.'

Tom stressed the importance of their holding their three o'clock meditation session, synchronised with that of the 'troops' back at Ossining, at this spot for the next three days. And tomorrow, the 14th, he said, was going to be a particularly demanding day, for the Israelis were planning a pre-emptive attack, a simultaneous foray into Lebanon and Syria, and it was important that the plan should not be put into action. 'If you may be upon the centre of Megiddo by twelve o'clock and be quiet between then and your three o'clock meditation, it will suffice,' he said. And after their three days of charging up, as it were, at the power centre of Megiddo, they should tour the northern frontier areas to spread the energy into Lebanon and Syria.

When they had completed this brief communication, the trio left Megiddo and went to the nearby town of Afula to get a meal. In the afternoon they returned to the power centre for the three o'clock meditation, then they drove to Mount Tabor.

Back at their hotel in Nazareth that evening, they held a communication in which they elicited some of Tom's fullest and most coherent statements on the subjects of cosmology, philosophy and teleology. It began with Andrija asking the question:

'Are the Nine the ultimate source of knowledge, wisdom and power in the universe?'

'The Nine together are what you would call the infinite intelligence,' was Tom's answer.

'Yes, well, we speak of "the fountainhead" or "the unmoved mover",' Andrija said, 'and in our theologies the idea is common that God initiates the thought but the action is always carried out by others, by subsidiaries.'

'That is correct. It is by the civilisations.'

'I see. And didn't you indicate at one time that there are twenty-four civilisations?'

'No, there are many. But there are twenty-four heads of civilisations. It might be compared to your Congress.'

John put in a question: 'And are all these working on the positive side?'

Tom had to remind him of one of the basic tenets of the philosophy of the Nine. 'Sir John, the positive and the negative must be blended to make it whole. As we have explained to you, to be positive without sense is not good. They are the balanced civilisations. When you speak of positive, Sir John, refer to it as a balanced positive.'

'Okay, I think we understand that part,' Andrija said. 'To take Jehovah as an example, I assume that he is one of the twenty-four and under him is his civilisation, Hoova.'

'Yes, and there would be, like a pyramid, many civilisations under that.'

'Okay. Now let's take human existence. Where do human beings come from, why do they come here, and where do they go?’

'All beings and species come from us,' Tom answered. 'Your questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? and Where am I going? are asked by all, and the answer is that all species and all beings are particles of us.'

'And they go through many existences before they reach Earth, is that not so?'

'It may be. But remember, the planet Earth is not so evolved.'

'So is there a regular sequence through which they must go before they come to this planet and through which they go after leaving it?'

'No. It depends on the needs of the soul. There are levels of intelligence and there are levels of consciousness, and some souls need more than others. Visualise a giant electric spark and smaller sparks coming off it. Each of those sparks would be part of the giant spark, which is us, and each would either die out or continue to grow. Some would create a fire and some would grow slowly. It would depend on the ambition of the spark.'

'Now when that spark cycles through Earth and achieves its full growth,' Andrija said, 'does it go through other civilisations or does it return directly to you?'

'It must continue for millions of years,' Tom answered, 'but it cannot continue if it stays upon the planet Earth. If you recall, in a previous conversation we have explained to you that the planet Earth is the only planet in the Universe that has upon it the variety of animal and the variety of plant. It is of all the planets in the universe what you would call the most beautiful because of its great variety. This attracts the souls, and they have desires to remain upon it. In other civilisations the souls have feelings and all the qualities that you have, but existence is more physical upon the planet Earth.'

'If I may ask a very broad question,' John said, 'what is the soul's purpose in existing in all those different civilisations?'

'If a soul becomes what you would call perfect, then it is . . .' Tom began, but he stopped abruptly and said, 'If we explain this to you, Sir John, you may think that we are cannibals.'

John and Andrija laughed and Andrija said, 'Well, I think you know us well enough to know that we won't jump to erroneous conclusions. Let's put the question this way: if we had to tell a human being what the purpose of life is...'

'You may tell them what has been told to them many times but has not been clearly understood: that the purpose of their existence is to return whence they came.'

'In other words, to be swallowed up by you,' said John with a laugh, now appreciating the 'cannibals' reference.

'And while they are on this Earth with all its problems,' Andrija said, 'what is it they can best do in order to return to the source?'

'If they treat all as they would desire to be treated, if they walk in dignity and neither attempt to remove from another nor permit to be removed from themselves their dignity, and if they have love for their fellow men and for all that they come in touch with, this in turn sends love to us.'

'So in essence,' Andrija said, 'we may say that God feeds on this kind of nectar, this love?'

'Yes.'

'And is this love totally immaterial? Is it something that has no material or physical existence?'

'It is an energy. It is not something you may hold in your hand. It is a spark that emanates and grows and becomes a shining sun and then returns to us.'

'In the future,' John said, 'we are likely to be asked, "What is God?" Of course we have some idea ourselves, but we would like to be able to give consistent and understandable answers to those who ask.'

'Sir John, what is God to you?' Tom asked.

'Well, there are various ways I could answer that. I could say that God is the Nine, or is a unified intelligence. . .'

Tom interrupted to take up John's last phrase and expand it to: 'A unified infinite intelligence supported by pure love and which grows with pure love.'

That was a conversation stopper. John and Andrija were both silent for a time while they took in this elegant and elliptical definition, then Andrija resumed the questioning:

'Now, how do the other creatures on the planet Earth fit into this cosmic scheme of things?'

'They have more love and more understanding of us than many humans,' Tom said.

'And do they also come back as sparks directly without having to go through a human form?'

'They are never of a human form. They are upon the planet Earth in order to make the souls there ask, What created this? How did this come to be? They are here to jog the mind. Do you understand?'

'Yes, I think so,' Andrija said. 'For example, at Megiddo today we were watching two hawks. They were mating on the wing and they were incredible and beautiful, and we wondered about them. They live in such freedom and, apparently, love, and...’

'It is the purest love,' Tom said.

'Yes. So would their soul spark if it achieved perfection go directly back to you?'

'Our doctor, you must understand that of all the creatures that exist upon the planet Earth only man and the porpoise has an intelligent soul that is a spark of us.'

'I see. So when we work with porpoises, as we expect to be doing in the future, we are to consider that they have souls equivalent to human souls?'

'Their souls have grown stronger and with more light than many human souls. They only desire to help the human race.'

John asked, 'Have some souls now in human beings ever been incarnated as dolphins? Is that possible?'

'Yes. But only in that relationship, and never in an animal. If you had the desire to come as a porpoise, you could do so.'

'That raises an interesting question,' Andrija said. 'You have told us that after the destruction of Atlantis, or Altea, many souls chose to return as dolphins. But did dolphins and porpoises have intelligent souls before that time?'

'Yes,' Tom said.

'So I take it that in dolphins, as in humans, there are souls at different stages of development.'

'Yes.'

'And are there any of what we might call advanced porpoises in this area of Israel and Egypt at this time?'

'I must consult,' Tom said, and after a pause continued:

'Altea has said that arrangements are being made for them to be in all areas so that men might recognise them for what they are. You understand that they, like you, are in service, but it is difficult for them to perform true service without the link with human beings.'

'Yes, well, when this crisis is over we must see what we can do to establish and strengthen those links,' Andrija said.

This was the most sustained discursive communication of this period, for throughout the next few days Tom was chiefly concerned with the political situation. The trio followed his instructions to be at Megiddo from noon the next day in order to pre-empt the pre-emptive strike into Lebanon and Syria that the Israelis were alleged to be planning. In the evening Andrija asked Tom whether their efforts had produced the desired effect and Tom said that they had:

'A decision was made at two-thirty. There was a vote, and it was finalised within the hour. But remember, there are among the Israelis, as among their enemies, those that are fanatics.'

'And is there any danger that these fanatics will be able to reverse the decision made today?' Andrija asked.

'We will alert you if there is danger of that,' Tom said. 'It is still important for you to go to the north now to prevent those that are fanatics on the other side.'

'Yes, we've made plans to go the day after tomorrow, after we've completed our three days here at Megiddo.'

'Our major concern,' Tom said, 'is if there should be what you would call a mushrooming of acts of aggression by and against the nation of Israel to the point where it would be very difficult for your energies and strength to hold it.'

So with the belief that their journey would prevent this eventuality, Andrija, John and Phyllis set out from Nazareth in a loaded station wagon on the morning of 16 March. They drove west to join the Mediterranean coast road, then after passing through the picturesque and sleepy towns of Acre and Nahariyya climbed by a winding road into the hills of the frontier area. Behind a high, double fence of barbed wire lay Lebanon, apparently utterly deserted except in the valleys, where occasionally Arab farmers were to be seen. The Israeli side of the frontier was fortified with military installations every few miles, and twice they were turned back by soldiers and directed to a parallel road further from the border. By two-thirty they found themselves on Mount Hermon at a kind of makeshift militarised skiing resort, with temporary portable buildings and tanks everywhere. For their three o'clock meditation the top of Mount Hermon, which commanded sweeping views over Lebanon and Syria, would be, they agreed, the ideal spot, so they took a chair-lift up the ski-slope and found a secluded place to sit. A mercilessly sharp wind from the east whipped round them and at the end of the meditation they were all shivering and glad to get back to the chairlift and down to a more hospitable altitude. Further down still they came to a village named Banias, a place that echoed with the continuous rush of mountain streams, and here in a grove of ancient and gnarled olive trees they attempted to hold a communication. It was a short one because Tom said that conditions were not favourable, but he had time to congratulate them on a successful 'sweep of the north' and said that they should communicate at greater length that evening. So they drove in two hours to Tiberias on the lake of Galilee where they booked into the Galei Kinnereth, a luxury lakeside hotel. At the beginning of the communication they held that night, after dining and taking a walk around the town, Tom reviewed the effects of their day's work:

'Throughout the area where you have been this day you have accomplished a great deal more ... we cannot say than we anticipated or planned, and we do not wish to anger those with whom you battle, so we must at this time speak with care. But you accomplished much. We wish you to visualise that as you pass through an area there spreads and dissipates behind you a bright glowing light that would be similar to a stream, but in truth it does not dissipate but reaches over a wide area. Do you understand?'

'Yes,' Andrija said, 'we can visualise it as what we could call a vapour trail.'

'Yes. And this day you have with your vapour trail caused a settlement of anger in many and you have spread a blanket that will keep the passions and the ambitions of those that oppose the nation of Israel under control. And you have done more than this. Within the area through which you have passed there were spirits that still existed from the history of that area, and because of their ignorance and refusal of understanding they have created difficulties for those of the nation of Israel and also of the nations of Lebanon and Syria through their strong desire to continue their battles. What you have done is negated the energy of those spirits that are used by those that oppose. You have done a great service because you have opened their minds to see greater things. These were some of the spirits that we have spoken to you about before and that have created a bottleneck in the spirit planes of the planet Earth, and through your work this day they have been released.'

Tom said that they should regard the following day as a day of rest, then they should go to the south and work on Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt from the vantage points of Eilat and Sharm-el-Sheik. The prospects of success in their work were good, but there were going to be some very taxing days ahead so they should take full advantage of the present opportunity to recuperate their energies.

So the next day they took it easy, enjoyed the excellent amenities of the hotel including the lakeside swimming pool, wrote letters, strolled around the town, paid a visit to the ruins at Capernaum, the place where Jesus had begun his ministry, and at three o'clock in the afternoon found a spot beside the lake where a bank and a belt of trees hid them from the road and settled down, seated on rocks and with their feet in the water, for their half-hour meditation. Some twenty minutes had elapsed when a man's voice shouted from the trees behind them, 'Hey, what you do?' When he got no response, the man shouted his question again, then a third time, and Phyllis turned round to see an Arab in European dress standing on the bank above them. He asked, 'You are praying?' Phyllis said they were and the Arab asked what for. 'For peace,' Phyllis said, and he said 'That's good,' and walked away. Just a few moments later a lone Israeli soldier appeared, removed his boots and socks and sat near them with his feet in the water.

When they held a communication later that day, Andrija referred to this incident and Tom said that the Arab who had spoken to them was a Syrian. Andrija wondered whether the incident signified that there was a possibility that the Arabs and the Israelis would sit down at a table together and work for peace. Tom said that it was indeed possible, but indicated that they would have a lot of work to do before it came to that. Moreover, there was a new cause for concern. There were plans being made to assassinate Dr Kissinger during his present tour of Middle East capitals, and the event could trigger a full-scale war.

'That's terrible,' Andrija said. 'And you speak as if it's a foregone conclusion.'

'In your world nothing is a foregone conclusion,' Tom said. 'We tell you these things so that we may use you.' And he instructed them to include Dr Kissinger in their meditations and prayers so that they could send energy to protect him. 'You three together are an energy field,' he told them, 'and you are as powerful as the energy of Megiddo, or of your home, or of a pyramid. When you are together we can take from you and weave a cable.' And this 'cable', he said, could be used to protect Dr Kissinger.

The talk about energy brought up the subject of the 'troops' at Ossining and the extent to which they were contributing support through their meditation sessions. Tom said that they were doing quite well but there were certain disturbances among them and they needed to understand the importance of discipline in their work.

'If they could have a sign from Altea or Hoova, I think it would encourage them,' John said.

'Tell them to watch their clocks,' Tom said.

John was in the habit of phoning Ossining every other day, and the next time he did so he conveyed Tom's message. When he phoned again two days after that, Jim Hurtak confirmed that the clocks had started behaving erratically again.

The contributions of the 'troops', Tom said, would probably not be needed after the end of the month and they could make plans to disband them if they wished to, but Andrija, John and Phyllis might be required to extend their stay in Israel. It would depend on the trend of events, but they should be prepared to stay longer than originally planned, and if they wished to make provisional arrangements for their respective partners to join them they could do so.

After spending three nights in Tiberias and being assured that their presence and meditations had helped to moderate the more extreme factions in 'the nation that is across', Andrija, John and Phyllis set out early on 20 March to drive to the south.

Eilat, a resort surrounded by desert and with big modern impersonal hotels, all glass and plastic, seemed to John a sort of poor man's Las Vegas. They held a communication that evening in a hotel room that smelled of fresh paint. It was a fairly brief session, a general situation report from Tom and advice for each of them on various small points. They retired early and by agreement were at breakfast by seven o'clock the following morning and shortly afterwards ready for the long run down the gulf to Sharm-el-Sheik. They were in Sharm, or Ofira as the Israelis have renamed it, by noon, and they found a town that was little more than a garrison and a construction site. The heat was intense and they were dusty from the journey through the desert, so as soon as they had settled in Andrija and John went for a swim. They had been told that the coral here was some of the best in the world, so they hired masks and snorkels and spent half an hour observing and marvelling at the underwater world of breathtaking colour and variety that contrasted so sharply with the unrelieved sandy monotone of the surrounding desert. Tom's point about Earth being the planet of greatest beauty and variety was certainly illustrated here.

But they were not here to marvel. They had work to do at three o'clock, and the map indicated that the best place for their meditation, the place nearest both to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia, was the peninsula of Ras Muhamed, some fifty kilometres away. There was a road only part of the way to Ras Muhamed. The rest was a track across the desert marked by little piles of stones every fifty yards or so, but they found their way there in good time and managed to get to the very farthest point of the peninsula to do their meditation. It was a beautiful spot, utterly silent and deserted, where the sea washed the shore gently and a heat haze shimmered over the land.

They held a communication before dinner that evening in their room. Andrija had to begin by apologising for the noise, because there was a generator thundering just outside and somebody in a neighbouring room was playing a radio, but Tom said, 'We are secure,' and asked what questions they had.

'Well, as you know, we did our meditation facing Egypt and Saudi Arabia today,' Andrija said, 'and we'd like to know how effective that was.'

'It was of the greatest effect in creating sense in the leaders of those nations,' Tom said. The problem now was going to be to stabilise the leaders in Jerusalem after Kissinger's visit, and to this end they should go through Jerusalem on their way back to the north and hold a meditation as near as possible to the Knesset on 23 March. The Kissinger negotiations were not going well and his life was still in danger and the next days were going to be crucial for him, so they should continue sending him energy and protection.

Andrija had a question on another subject. Just before they had settled down for this communication they had learnt that during the afternoon there had been great excitement because about twenty porpoises had appeared in the bay. This, apparently, was an unprecedented event, so Andrija asked Tom if it had anything to do with their presence.

'Did you not ask?' Tom said. 'May we say to you, our doctor and Sir John, and you will relate this to our Being: we have in the past explained to you many times about your power. We have warned you, and we have cautioned you to be careful what you ask, have we not?'

'Yes,' said Andriia.

'We have asked you to be of extreme caution with your angers, your displeasures and your despairs because of your power. And it is the same with your happiness, your joy and your enthusiasms. Those creatures heard what you asked and came because of your asking.'

'Should we try and make contact with the porpoises tomorrow?' Andrija asked, and Tom said that provided they were able to fulfil their instructions for the 23rd it was up to them how they organised their time.

John was keeping a diary all through this period, and I am now going to quote verbatim his entry for 22 March, for it provides a better background than a second-hand report for the communication they held later that day.

'Got up early, and as I was keen to get to the Dead Sea that afternoon for the meditation I insisted on an early start, though Andrija wanted to hang about on the beach till noon and Phyllis wanted to talk to the porpoises. Anyway we got going at 9 a.m. and Phyllis was rather down so I became frustrated with her. On the road to Eilat we discussed many things about biblical history and Andrija had two minor arguments with Phyllis, one about "nine cancelling out" and the other about "truth" and "perfection". My thinking goes on much the same lines as Andrija's and I often find Phyllis's non-sequential and non-specific discussion irritating, and I did on this occasion. During the first argument her earring dematerialised and later reappeared, which with hindsight I see was a warning, and during the second we came upon a couple of Israelis beside a broken-down jeep. We stopped only briefly and didn't offer much help, which was a thing we were to hear more about later. We had a slow lunch in Eilat and left there at 1:10 to attempt to reach the Dead Sea for our 3 P.M. meditation. I drove faster than usual but quite safely I thought, and Phyllis slept most of the way and we reached the Dead Sea at ten minutes to three. We stood in the water for the meditation and then went to check in at the very touristy Galei Zohar hotel at Ein Bokek. Again Andrija and I went down to the beach to experience floating in the crazy water, which was fun. Then back to the hotel for a communication, and the bombshell hit us.'

During the meditation, John had had an unusual experience. He had heard very clearly a voice saying several times, 'I am Dennis Dunsmore. I am a reporter.' He told the others about the experience afterwards, but neither Andrija nor Phyllis had heard it.

The 'bombshell' John referred to at the end of his diary entry was the severest reprimand that Tom had ever handed out to them. At the beginning of the communication he said he had a great deal to say to them but would first answer any questions. John asked who Dennis Dunsmore was, and Tom answered, 'a spirit in the area of death'. Then Andrija said they had no important questions and would rather hear what Tom wanted to say to them, and he and John were both amazed and chastened by the long speech that Tom now proceeded to deliver to them.

'We have given you bouquets when you have deserved them, but we are now going to give you thorns. Today you took upon your physical selves a situation of great danger. You gave to those that oppose the opportunity to eliminate all three of you completely. We are angry, and we will not tolerate this in future. We speak to each of you. Those that oppose what you do wait for opportunities to eliminate you. Today it has taken the energies of Altea and Hoova and of Joseph of Aragon to protect the three of you. Those energies were needed to protect areas for which you have prayed. There is a word in your language that we must use for the first time in speaking to you, and that word is "stupid". If we understand that word, it means non-thinking and ignorant.

'Sir John, we will speak first to you, and then we will speak to our doctor and our Being. In the future, none of the three of you has the right or our permission to create dangers for the other two. When you take upon yourself the situation of the universe, you take upon yourself also the responsibilities of the universe. You have tested us today in a vehicle that is not of the greatest stability and that could have eliminated all three of you. We gave you signs but you did not pay attention. And we speak to the three of you. Each of you is as responsible as the others.’

We have been with you this day because of the necessity to be with you, and you have spoken of many things and we have listened. You have spoken of truth and you have spoken of perfection, and if you really have the desire to be perfect we will teach you how perfection is attained on your physical planet Earth. There is but one law to attain perfection. There are no complexities. It is a very simple law. And it is to treat each and every soul and every animal and every plant as you would desire them to treat you. That is the golden law, the law of the universe.

'There was upon your journey today a time of necessity for you to stop. We had made arrangements for that. Because of your testing of us, we tested you. And we were angry. You do not treat your fellow man as you would desire to be treated, not any of you. You cannot reach the people on your planet if you do not have consideration for them. It is time you learnt that if there is an inconvenience you should accept that inconvenience in order to give you strength and understanding. When you begin to feel that you are of a righteous nature, then you are no longer righteous. When you begin to feel you are more important than others, then you are no longer important. And when you begin to feel that you may do as you desire to save the world, then you will destroy the world.

'And today there was another disaster. There was the loss of a dolphin. We admonish the two of you because you did not explain to our Being as we asked you to about the strength of the three of you. You will now tell our Being that in the future arrangements will not be made unless there is certainty that they will be kept. We will tolerate no more losses, and we will not permit any one of the three of you to manipulate the other two. You spoke with spirits today, Sir John, because that is where you nearly went. And one of the dolphins made its transition today, in its difficulty in waiting for the Being. This caused great disturbance with Altea, for you should remember where the dolphin comes from. It is true that our Being asked the dolphin to come, and you must tell her that in future if she will not be there she should send as strongly for them not to come. And you, our Doctor, may we ask you if in your heart you can in truth - and you spoke of truth today - say that you did not permit endangerment of your lives?'

'I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware of any danger today at all,' Andrija said. 'Can you say what it was?'

'The car was dangerous. We have asked you before to pay attention to the wheels. Sir John, remember that when irritations grow out of proportion, then you have been reached by those that oppose. Today they were able to reach you. You do not know how close you came.'

John said he wasn't aware of failing to pay attention to any warnings, and Tom reminded him that 'we removed an earring from the Being and not one of you asked why'. Andrija asked whether in future warnings couldn't be clearer and quite unambiguous, for instance like the car horn suddenly sounding. Tom had to consult about that one, and after a pause he reported: 'The Council has said that you are asking us to do for you things that you should have the sense to do yourself, and that if we make that arrangement for you it will be the same as making a law, and it is not good to depend upon a law.'

Which was consistent with their frequently expressed attitude towards human free will, but a little ironical coming at the end of a harangue in which Tom had laid down the law as never before.

John and Andrija discussed the gist of this communication with Phyllis when she came out of trance, and that night a rather subdued and thoughtful trio of world savers went to their beds in the Galei Zohar hotel at Ein Bokek.

There was nothing obviously wrong with the wheels or tyres of the car when they examined them the next morning, but John drove slowly and with great caution nevertheless. The three of them talked frankly about the previous night's communication and the understandings and feelings that they had got from it, and by the time they reached Jerusalem they agreed that it had been a good thing because it had had the effect of bringing them closer together. In Jerusalem they sought a place for their meditation near the parliament buildings, but they could find nowhere very close where they would not be conspicuous, and they had to settle for the grounds of the University, about half a mile from the Knesset. Tom had said that they should get back to Galilee that day, so after the meditation they paid a brief visit to the old city to enable Phyllis to do some shopping then set off to drive to Tiberias via Ramallah, Nablus and Beit Shean. They bought a copy of an English language newspaper printed in Jerusalem which carried the headline 'PLO Plans Attack from Syria', and wondered whether this had anything to do with Tom's insisting that they return to Galilee. They arrived back at the Galei Kinnereth in time for dinner, and when a suitable time had elapsed after dinner they held a brief communication.

This day, the 23rd, was the day on which Dr Kissinger had to concede the failure of his negotiations, and the following morning he flew back to Washington. He had been unable to persuade the Israelis to surrender territory in exchange for Egyptian promises, and he was returning, Tom said, 'in great sadness', though with the failure of the talks the danger of his assassination had passed. Over the next few days the world's press was to be fairly unanimously critical of Israel's 'intransigence', and many commentators spoke of the likelihood of a re-opening of hostilities.

The following is how Tom analysed the situation in the communication held on the night of the 23rd: 'The nation of Egypt sought to make the nation of Israel bend its knee, and when it could not it began to lay a plot to involve the other nations. But Egypt did not in truth have in mind to bring the other nations to war. It was more the way of using a threat. In wanting the nation of Israel to bow its knee, Egypt showed its ignorance, and when Israel would not concede the requests of Egypt the thought was planted that if it would be brought to the attention of the other nations that their God demanded this war, then they could force the knees of the nation of Israel to bend. But through their ignorance they have set up an explosive situation. It has now been picked up by the nation across from where you are. It is the only idea that could pull all the nations that oppose together. It was only done to bring the nation of Israel to its knees, and it was to be but a bluff, but it has gathered strength and it must be negated. There is a plot to launch an attack when the holidays of the Christians are over and those of the nation of Israel are still in celebration. Israel, we give you our promise, will not be destroyed, but what is in the minds of those that oppose could cause the greatest devas tation and, Doctor, it is tragic but your country will not intervene.'

For the next two weeks, the period that Tom had said when they were in Ossining would be the most critical, Andrija, John and Phyllis remained in Tiberias, ostensibly tourists, and followed Tom's instructions to stand in the lake of Galilee and 'face the nation of Syria and pray from the heart' for certain periods each day. 'You are in a very special place,' Tom told them. 'This area where you now are is special because of the Nazarene. We have explained to you about the energy field that is Megiddo and the spokes that go out and the pockets of energy at the extensions. Well, this place is one of the extensions. In this area the Nazarene performed many miracles. Remember who he was and who you are and remember that he promised there would be those that would perform more and stronger miracles.'

The incognito of the 'successors' of the Nazarene was impeccable during this period. When they were not meditating, praying or communicating with Tom, they looked and behaved exactly like tourists. John went water-skiing on Lake Galilee with the hotel lifeguard, a thirty-one-year-old Israeli who as an immigrant some years ago had boldly adopted the double eponym Israel Carmel. Israel was intense, aggressive, athletic and intelligent. He became a friend of the trio, accompanied them on sightseeing expeditions in the area and introduced them to friends of his in Tiberias. The friendship was strengthened when one afternoon he joined them in their three o'clock meditation as if it were the most natural thing in the world, though of course they did not tell him the purpose of it.

'In your meditations today,' Tom told them on 25 March, 'you have not succeeded in averting the war threat, but you have achieved delay until three days after your twenty-eight.

And may we say to you that if you can prevent difficulties for the nation of Israel through the month of your July, then the nation of Israel will stand firm for ever.' Which was the second indication they had that they weren't going to be based back in Ossining as soon as they had thought.

On the following day, the 26th, there was apparently danger once again of Israel embarking on a suicidal pre-emptive attack strategy. 'It is important for you,' Tom told the trio, 'in your next meditations to pray and to love and to give to those that are in authority in the nation of Israel the strength to be wise in their decisions. They feel that they are in a situation where they will have no choice but to be the aggressor. It must not happen. And we will tell you the truth of another situation. If it should come to pass that the people of this nation should ever come near the point of their total destruction, they will not only remain until they are no longer, but they will also take the rest of the planet Earth with them. They will release rune missiles. It is important that this not be permitted. The children of the nation of Israel have in their hearts the knowledge of who they are, but with this knowledge they are determined that before they will have to kiss the feet of others they will eliminate all their people. They know that if the country of our Doctor is not on their side there is no hope for their existence, and they are prepared to take the planet with them. They have nine missiles situated in three different areas, all pointed in directions to cause the greatest devastation.'

This was consistent with reports that appeared in the press shortly thereafter that Israel had achieved nuclear capability.

Tension was maintained at a high pitch throughout the next five or six days, both by the information Tom conveyed and by the news emanating from the newspapers and from radio and television. The latter did not corroborate the former, for Tom's information had to do with events and decisions that would not be available to the media anyway, but suspense ran at a parallel pitch in the two sources of information. Among the Israelis there was a growing sense that war was imminent and inevitable, and indeed many of them seemed to be spoiling for it.

Communications with Tom over these days tended to be brief and to the point, for the opposition was apparently trying to use the opportunity to put its oar in and there was a need for energy conservation in order to maximise the output for preventing an escalation of hostile posturings and plottings into open war. In addition to continually reassuring the trio that their energy, augmented by that of the 'troops' at Ossining, was proving effective, and exhorting them to stand firm in their faith and not relax their efforts, Tom vouchsafed some political information. Since Kissinger's return to Washington the US had decided to abandon Israel to her fate. In Syria the government was in cahoots with the PLO and a plot had been concocted to unite the Arab nations against Israel by engineering a political assassination which would look as if it had been done by Israelis. He wasn't named specifically, but there were hints that the intended victim of this plot was King Hussein of Jordan. All over Israel, including Tiberias, there were Arab infiltrators, and they were being organised to strike simultaneously in order to throw the Israelis into disarray just before the main military offensive started. 'For the next six or seven days,' Tom said on 28 March, 'we are walking on eggs.' There was a situation of supreme crisis coming which would demand of them a great concerted effort, and even if it were passed successfully it would not mean the end of their work here, for the situation would remain serious until July.

On 30 March Tom said that the moment of crisis would probably come at nine o'clock the following evening, and that from two o'clock in the afternoon they should be in prayer for an hour and should communicate at nine o'clock. This would be the last effort the Ossining 'troops' would be required to participate in, for after it they would not be in a condition to continue, so they would be free to disband.

So at 8.45 on 31 March, D-day as they called it, Andrija, John and Phyllis assembled in a hotel room in Tiberias which overlooked one of the most contentious territories in the world, the Golan Heights. It was an apparently peaceful night, with a near-full moon riding over distant Safed and casting a bridge of light across the still lake, but the assembled trio shared a sense of foreboding and of the great solemnity of the occasion. Phyllis went into trance quickly, and when her body stiffened and her forearms rose and Tom announced in a weak and halting voice, 'We are here,' Andrija said:

'Welcome Tom. We very much wanted to be with you in this fateful hour in human affairs, and we would like to do whatever we can to help. Can you advise us what the state of affairs is?'

During the session Tom was rather less coherent than usual and there were long pauses before he answered questions and between his statements, but the reason for this, they soon learned, was that he was simultaneously eavesdropping on a meeting of Arab leaders who were debating whether to give the order for missiles to be launched against Israel.

It was some time before he answered Andrija's opening question, then he said: 'At this time ... [pause] ... if there would be but six decisions - and there are four that are affirmative and two that are not ... [pause] ... We are sorry, you will bear with us when we must hesitate.'

'Yes, of course,' Andrija said, 'we understand.'

'It has come to the notice of those that are across the water from where you are that there is difficulty in - what is the word? it is not machinery ... but they are having difficulty. It is for us and for you a good situation, but there are those who say that what is left in balance should be pushed [pause].'

'I take it there's a decision meeting going on,' Andrija said.

'Yes, at this moment. We will say this to you ... [pause] ... There is much consternation, and there is much thumping.’

'Is Israel aware of this moment of peril?' Andrija asked.

'They have of this knowledge,' Tom said. 'We must pray.'

'Shall we pray to give them stability and strength?'

'Yes. The nation of Israel will not push the button without notification ... [pause] …. We are in a precarious time. We will hold each other.’

Andrija and John each took one of Phyllis's ice-cold hands and joined their own to complete the circuit. Andrija whispered into the microphone for the record: 'The time is exactly 9 p.m. local time.'

'We will send strength to those of the nation of Israel,' Tom said. 'If we may hold but four minutes we will in truth - how do you say? - we will have won a round.'

The three sat in silence with joined hands for what seemed a long time, and then Tom delivered a speech, slower and more hesitantly than usual:

'In these moments when we are together we ask you to call upon all your reserves, all your strength, all your love and your compassion. Convert your frustrations into harmony, bring out your understanding of all that is around you, and of each other, and spread it abroad and give it to the children of the nation of Israel. Plant in the minds of those that oppose the nation of Israel a seed, so that they may step out of their hate. It is important at this time that those that oppose be in confusion, and it is sad that in the confusion they cause more confusion, but it is the only thing that will keep them in separate doors. We would say this to you, for the work and the strength of the three of you, that if this night passes in peace, then those that oppose this nation of Israel will ask within ten to seventeen days for a meeting with Dr Kissinger, and this will bring great hope, but until that time we are on eggs ... [pause] ... We pray for peace, and that all of our strength be permitted to be used to the maximum to blanket this land and these people with love and with understanding, and to bring them out of the bondage of their minds.'

This was followed by a long wait, and then Tom announced success: 'Egypt is dismantled ... [pause] ... Lebanon is ineffective ... [pause] ... and four in Syria are non-functional. With the others there is difficulty ... [pause] . . .'

Another suspenseful silence was followed by the announcement that brought a surge of relief to both Andrija and John: 'We have passed.'

'Are you holding in Syria now?' Andrija asked.

'There are three missiles functioning.'

'Have you not neutralised those yet?'

'With only three they will not attempt. We have passed.

Do you understand that if we had not succeeded you would be with us?'

Andrija laughed. 'Yes, we were very aware of that. Though I think it would be a pleasure to be with you, to tell the truth.'

'You cannot return. You have not completed.'

'No, we realise that, and of course we're anxious to complete our task on Earth,' Andrija said.

'We must tell you that in three of your days there will be those fringes that in their anger will create difficulty. Your energies may be used at that time to thin out the fringes.

'Okay, well, we'll be available for that mopping-up operation,' Andrija said.

I don't know about my readers, but I need to take a breather at this stage. This ready-made last chapter of the present narrative, which seems to be plotted and structured like a stage play or a movie scenario, is leaving even me breathless and incredulous as it unfolds. I mean, if it isn't literally true, whose fantasy is it? If it's invention, then the intelligence that invented it had an extraordinary endowment of dramatic skills, knew how to build up a denouement progressively through a series of episodes, how to create suspense, how to plot and lay foundations for future developments. And there's another staggering thing I've just discovered. The ending of this book was foreseen by Tom in December 1974, some fifteen months before I began to write it and four months before the events recounted above.

At that time the intention was that Andrija should write the book, and in a communication on 5 December 1974 (part of which I have reported above, pp. 223-4), he discussed with Tom some of the problems he was having. He said, 'Right now, I'm really looking at a huge pile of rubble and trying to create an edifice out of it. I really don't know where to start, in what order to pick up the stones, what form and shape to give it.'

I know how he felt. But Tom had a simple answer to that 'May we say to you, Doctor, that you have within you the nature of a ring of truth, and that is all that is necessary.'

So he should tell the story straightforwardly and just as it had happened. But what about the ending? Andrija asked: 'I'd like to have your advice as to where the first publication and the report of the first series of your communications should conclude in order to set the stage for the next series of events. What would be a kind of climactic ending that in effect would whet the appetite for more knowledge?'

Tom's answer didn't seem particularly exceptional at the time, but in the light of what we now know about events, and considering how this book has taken shape and approached its maximum possible length at this stage of the story, it is quite an amazing answer:

'In the month of February of your coming year, towards the end of that month, it will be necessary for the three of you to return to this nation of Israel. You will return, and we know you know not, but we know - that you with your presence will avert another attempt of war, and you may then if you desire end your book on that particular note.'

Though Tom was two weeks out, as their intended departure for Israel in February was delayed by the interpersonal difficulties they were going through at that time, what an uncanny prediction this is. And what a felicitous sense of literary structure it shows.

And so to the final scene of the drama, which appropriately contains suspense, villainy, miracle, the resolution of this particular climacteric and intimations of future developments.

On 1 April Tom gave them a summary of the consequences of the previous night's events: 'At this time there is great confusion in the nations that oppose the nation of Israel. There is contact between the nation across from where you are and the nation of Soviet Russia. There is great disturbance because the Syrians are blaming the Russians for the bad missiles. It will create a difficulty in two ways.'

'Yes,' Andrija said, 'I imagine the Syrians will blame Russia for sabotaging their plans with poor equipment, and the Russians will blame the Syrians for not knowing how to operate it properly.'

'Yes. At great cost. There will be more shipments. But when it has happened two or three times they may begin to understand what really happened.'

'So may we assume that we're safe now?' Andrija asked.

'Until the third of this month you are in.'

'Yes, you mentioned the third and the mopping-up of the fringes last night.'

John said, 'Can you give us some idea of the kind of thing our energies will be required for on the third?'

'Sir John, there is a plan to take you, our Doctor and our Being on a visit by the youth of where you are. It would be of benefit because it is closer to where you need to be. We would have you understand that it is only the nation of Syria that we will be concerned with at that time.'

It was true that the young man they had befriended, Israel Carmel, had proposed that he and a friend of his named Giddon should take them to see an interesting natural phenomenon known as the hexagon pools, in the former Syrian territory of Golan, and the date suggested for this trip was the third. Israel had thought that the trip was his idea, but now it seemed that it was an idea that the Management had planted as a part of their advance planning.

They received no further details of the plan in this communication, and when they attempted to communicate the following day a most unexpected thing happened. Phyllis was unable to get into deep trance. She got down to a certain level where she came up against some sort of blockage and was subjected to a psychic attack. She described the experience to John and Andrija and they discussed it with her.

'I was going in, and this fire was burning all around me. Villages were being burnt, and I thought I was in a situation like Africa. I saw these burning villages, and I saw skin being peeled off people, and all that kind of stuff. But I can handle that because it's like I'm an outside observer. Then all of a sudden all these kind of things are coming at me, and they're pulling at my tongue and at my eyes and they're biting me and sticking things into me. And they're the ugliest things I've ever seen. I've been in prehistoric times, but they're worse than prehistoric. Then they turn to human and their eyes are red and they laugh at you. And I can't get past that level. I can't get to the Nine.'

'Well, the Management have warned us,' John said, 'that the opposition would try to stop our communications and would try to do so by creating a fear.'

'Fear is one thing, John,' Phyllis said. 'I can rationalise in my mind: this can't hurt me, it's an illusion. Okay. When I go down there and see all these things I can say to myself, "It's an illusion, it's a nightmare, they can't do anything to you." But when they start ripping at you and it hurts, that's another thing.'

'Yes, that's when they're getting at your etheric, and it's dangerous,' Andrija said.

'And where are the Nine?' cried Phyllis, with a note of exasperation.

'Wait a minute,' John said. 'As I see it, the opposition believe that if they can prevent our communicating they can make us ineffective. So shouldn't we just go ahead and do tomorrow what we know or think is the right thing to do, and not worry too much about holding this communication, particularly in view of the risks involved.'

Andrija agreed in principle, but he said he thought they should try once more. This was the first time that the opposition had succeeded in blocking communication, and he was worried that there might be a reason for it. Perhaps the opposition wanted to prevent them getting information that would be important for tomorrow.

So they tried again, and this time Phyllis managed to get out of her 'etheric envelope', secure from the depredations of the creatures of the opposition, and in due course Tom made his presence known. His visit was brief, though, and his message urgent: 'There is within the spheres a battle that is creating difficulty. We can stay but for a moment. It is important for you to know that on your morrow there will be an attempt by those across the water from where you are to send destruction by poison. It is important that it be stopped. You will go where you planned to go. We must leave now.'

They got more details at nine o'clock the following morning, when communication was established without any problem. 'Between the hours of four and six,' Tom said, 'those that are across intend to create illnesses for the people of Israel by poisoning. It is important that you continue your plan to go within the reach of the nation of Syria and meditate. It is the anger of those that had a failure, and it is not done by the heads of the nation but by those that are fanatical. We cannot permit this destruction, but we need your physical energy to cause a neutralisation. As we have explained to you before, with enough series of failures, those that oppose will begin to see the light.'

Explaining the difficulty they had had in communicating the previous evening, Tom gave an interesting comment on the subject of Armageddon: 'In your physical world, when there is a war there are portions of that war that remain in the mind, portions that are memorials to freedoms and also memorials to slavery. What was happening last evening was one of those memorials. It was partly a physical battle, but it was more of a mental power struggle for the gaining of the minds. You understand that in this battle you call Armageddon the important thing is to gain control of the souls and the minds?'

Which prompts a brief digression. Several of the present day 'awareness' psychologies and techniques maintain that man is kept in confusion and his development is retarded by what they call 'uncleared engrams', i.e. residual memories or emotions from earlier stages of life or from former lives. Tom seems to be saying much the same thing in this passage, and I think the idea helps us make sense of the concept of the Battle of Armageddon, particularly if we recall also that thought, and therefore memory, is an energetic field phenomenon.

Getting back to the subject of the day's work, Tom said that they should make Phyllis fully aware of the situation, and that if they alerted her that there was danger at any time they should all 'flee like deer'. He said, 'It is unfortunate that we must send you where we are sending you for you to be as close as possible for this particular situation. But we cannot afford to have any error. It must be completely neutralised. It cannot be merely in portion neutralised. It must be turned to pure water. Do you understand?'

'Yes,' Andrija said. 'Could you give us some idea what the nature of the toxin is?'

'I do not understand chemistry,' Tom said, but he consulted briefly with Altea and then continued: 'They have explained that it is of a viral nature that will work in slowly until it would be too late to recognise what had happened.’

'Yes, I understand,' said Andrija. 'A virus with a slow incubation period. Do you know how long that incubation period would be?'

'They say between three and seven of your days.'

'And presumably the plan is to release this material into the waters somewhere so that it pollutes the lake of Galilee?'

'Yes.'

'So it's a thing that can be done by one person surreptitiously?'

'By two.'

To get to the hexagon pools you take a rough track off a main road in the Golan hills and follow it for about three miles as it winds up and round a hillside. Then you have to scramble for fifteen minutes down a steep path into a narrow gorge, and all the time as you descend the sound of rushing water gets louder. At the bottom of the gorge there is this geological enigma. It is a rocky place, and all the rocks are hexagonal. You stand on a natural platform which is a mosaic of hexagons, each about eighteen inches across, and see identical-shaped rocks below and all around you. There is a large pool into which the water cascades over these hexagonal rocks, and the sheer cliff face that rises from it is ribbed with a profusion of hexagon-shaped outcrops, like stalactites and stalagmites. The whole is one of nature's most impressive sculptures.

This was the place that their Israeli friends brought John, Phyllis and Andrija to in the afternoon of 3 April. Israel and Giddon knew nothing about the dramatic background of the trip. However, they knew about their eccentric friends' habit of sitting in meditation with their feet in water for fifteen minutes every afternoon, and when they had all done admiring and commenting on the scene and John said it was time for their meditation the Israelis took off their shoes and socks as well. This created a dilemma, which John and Andrija discussed in private for a minute. They had formed the idea that their presence was needed in this particular spot at this time because it was the water of this stream, which ran into Galilee, that was going to be poisoned, and that by sitting in meditation with their feet in the stream they would be able to neutralise it. But what, they wondered, would happen if some of the stuff remained active and they got it on their feet? It was perhaps a minimal risk, but was it one they could let others take unwittingly? John was doubtful, but Andrija was of the opinion that they could trust the Management to look after everything and certainly shouldn't allow any doubts to jeopardise their work at this time, so the two Israelis joined them in their meditation unaware of any possible danger.

The water was pretty cold and after fifteen minutes their feet were numb and they had to massage the life back into them. 'Did you get anything, Phyllis?' John asked, for often her clairvoyance in meditation tied in significantly with what they later discovered had happened. Phyllis said that she had got something but she would have to tell them later.

When they were alone, just the three of them, back at the Galei Kinnereth, they compared notes and agreed that at the time of the meditation, and after, they had all felt quite depleted of energy. That was probably a sign that their energies had been effectively channelled. Phyllis's vision also suggested that they had. She had clearly seen two people dressed as bedouin in a field near a stream. One was dressed as a woman but she knew by the vibration that it was a man disguised. They were going towards two canisters which had just been dropped from a helicopter. They got to where the canisters lay and were going to pick them up when suddenly the canisters dematerialised. The Arabs were in consternation, they gesticulated and shouted at each other and rushed about the place searching for the vanished canisters. Phyllis said she felt quite sorry for them, for she could pick up the fear they had of going back to their leaders and having to say they had lost the canisters. They would probably pretend they had done the job, she surmised, and hope that some other explanation why it wasn't successful would be found.

The information Tom gave them when they held a communication at nine o'clock that evening seemed to confirm Phyllis's vision was in essentials correct. 'You have upon day completed,' he said. 'Though not in the minds of those that oppose, for it will take a few days for them to realise there is no consequence. What you have done this day was necessity, because in their blindness and ignorance those that oppose would not only have caused destruction and disease in this nation of Israel, but in other nations too. It would caused contamination of their own water, and of that of nation of Jordan. You are dealing with those that are not of great mental capacity, but only have anger and hate and emotion without reason.'

'Yes,' Andrija said, 'and what actually happened this noon? Did you successfully neutralise the toxin?

'It did not even enter the water.'

'Did you in fact dematerialise the containers and the poison?'

'Yes. That is the reason there is weakness in the three of you, and particularly in the Being. It is now important that you rejuvenate your physical bodies. It is important for the blending that you rebuild your etherics.'

They may, he went on, now take a short break to attend to their personal affairs, but they should be back in Israel together within two weeks, for there was a great deal to be done in the months ahead.

Andrija asked if they might just summarise the various work projects. There was Altea's communications transmission project, which he understood was a long-term project that would begin with radio and television reception of anomalous signals and pictures. Then there was the work of communicating the message of the Nine to the world at large and particularly to the nation of Israel. Thirdly, there was the work of contacting and helping children with paranormal powers. There was healing work: an area in which Phyllis had been increasingly engaged and was to produce some impressive results in the months ahead. Then there was the dolphin communication project.

'Yes,' Tom said, 'but war must be the first of your priorities. It is important for you to keep in your mind and heart the seriousness of the situation in the nation of Israel. As we have explained to you, you must spend most of your time here until the end of your month of July, for if July can pass without a war in this nation of Israel, it will be the ending of all war.'

This was the most impressive of all Tom's predictions, for at the time it was made Arab-Israeli relations were just about as bad as they had ever been, and a peaceful settlement of their differences seemed a very remote possibility. However, by mid-July Egypt and Israel were each willing to make some concessions, and in August Dr Kissinger was able to announce that as a result of the negotiations of the past few weeks the Sinai Agreement was virtually concluded and all that remained was the dotting of the i's. In the eighteen months that have elapsed between then and the time of this writing, not only has there been no fresh outbreak or serious threat of war, but there has also been a discernible improvement of relations between Israel and the Arab world.

During these eighteen months, too, the communications and the work of Andrija, John and Phyllis have continued. But that will have to be another story, for it is as long, as complex and as eventful as the one this book has told.

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