Böcker av Nick Reynold

The 1945-1952 British Government's Opposition to Zionism and the Emergent State of Israel tells the story of a longstanding campaign conducted by senior members of a British government against Zionism, a fledgling nationalist movement, immediately after World War II. The book argues that although the British Labour Party had once been firm supporters of Zionism and the creation of a Jewish homeland, once in office, and particularly under the influence of the anti-Zionist Foreign Office, their position changed. The two senior Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Clement Atlee and Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, had very little knowledge about or interest in Zionism at the time that they took office. And so various internal and external bodies were able to persuade them to adopt their own firmly held position when they had no position of their own. Despite the horrors of the Holocaust and displacement of large numbers of Jews, ultimately the British Government were not willing to risk alienating Middle East Arabs in support of a Jewish homeland. The book examines the motivations and roles of the two men and their fascinating relationship with the Zionist movement of the mid-twentieth century, culminating in the triumphant establishment of the state of Israel against all odds.

While David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann led very different lives, their paths crossed, or often clashed, as they became major influencers in the creation of the State of Israel. This book describes the battle between two "giants" which took place over 32 years.

This book provides an in-depth survey of Britain's Mandate in Palestine, an issue crucial to understanding the continuing atmosphere of mistrust and violence in the region that continues to the present. At the conclusion of the First World War (191418), the League of Nations awarded a Mandate to Great Britain, which entailed governing a part of the defunct Ottoman Empire, a part which became known as Palestine. The Mandate, empowering Britain to govern this area for an unspecified period, had as one of its main objectives the understanding that Britain would assist the Zionist Movement in the creation of a Homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.During the thirty years that Britain ruled Palestine, it made no serious effort to carry out this commitment. The author discusses a variety of reasons for this failure, but the greatest obstacle preventing it from fulfilling its Mandate was that Britain completely miscalculated the reaction of the large Arab majority in the country. In fear of repercussions from the growing Arab nationalism various British Governments over the years decided that their best interests would be served by appeasing the Palestine Arabs and reneging on the British promise to Zionism. As the author shows, Britain's failure to fulfil its Mandate obligations was a major contribution to the problems that have persisted in the Middle East for decades.