Here We Go Again!
Years ago, I had a very interesting insight into the problems of Israel and the Palestinians.
My next door neighbour; Charles was a retired senior officer in the Royal Engineers, who was in the King David Hotel, when it was blown up by the Irgun.
The hotel was used by the British to administer the Palestinian Mandate. The story of the King David Hotel Bombing has this Wikipedia entry, which is well worth a read.
Charles and his wife had also lived in Palestine before the Second World War and described it as a much more peaceful place, where the only way to tell if anybody was Jew or Arab was from their surname. He felt that they got on well, until it was all stirred up by the right-wing Zionists.
One of my big regrets in life, is that I didn’t interview my neighbour more deeply, as he had fascinating tales to tell.
The Anonymous Widower 
Yes…that would have been an interesting interview! 😀
Comment by Jonathan Caswell | October 8, 2023 |
Since I moved away from living next door to Charles and his wife, I’ve met and become friends with several retired very senior officers from both the UK and US armed services. Nearly all give you a story based on facts, with no political slant.
That just increases my regret that I never properly interviewed Charles.
Comment by AnonW | October 8, 2023 |
Yeah…!
Comment by Jonathan Caswell | October 8, 2023
Last night a Trinidadian friend whose in-laws are in Palestine was telling me about the phonecall he’d received from family members – one of them a hospital doctor – saying that Israeli troops were going door to door conducting searches and hauling out suspects, and that they (the family) didn’t expect to survive what was going to follow. My friend is a senior medical researcher and not prone to exaggeration. Listening to the midnight news a couple of hours later I was struck by the way the only interviews were with Israeli officials and settlers. Easy to forget that two groups are suffering in this conflict. Where both sides are suffering equally, there’s an incentive – if only through sheer exhaustion – to find a way to end the strife. Where there’s a big imbalance in suffering, as in this conflict, there’s really no pressure on the more powerful participant to compromise.
Comment by balhamist | October 8, 2023 |
I remember the Six Day War of June 1967, when I was a student at Liverpool University. We were worried, so four of us left for a few days in Blackpool, as my friend Fred had the keys to his grandmother’s house in Cleveleys.
It was the first time, I had shared a bed overnight with my late wife. We got married fourteen months later.
Comment by AnonW | October 8, 2023 |
Not my experience of working with British Army officers for eleven years. I’m afraid I found that they viewed their history and traditions through rose tinted glasses. Charles obviously decided to forget about the Arab Revolt of 1936 – 39
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine://en.yyom.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine
Comment by fammorris | October 10, 2023 |
Sorry about the previous link. Should be
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine
Comment by fammorris | October 10, 2023 |