“Yes, Herbert Bentwich takes the trip from Charing Cross to Jaffa because he is committed to ending Jewish misery in the East, but his main reason for taking this journey is his understanding of the futility of Jewish life in the West. Because he was blessed with a privileged life, he already sees the challenge that will follow the challenge of anti-Semitism. He sees the calamity that will follow the Holocaust. He realizes that his own world of Anglo-Jewish harmony is a world in eclipse. That’s why he crosses the Mediterranean. He arrives on April 16 at the mouth of the ancient port of Jaffa. I watch him as he awakens at 5:00 a.m. in his first-class compartment. I watch him as he walks up the stairs to the Oxus’s wooden deck in a light suit and a cork hat. I watch him as he looks from the deck. The sun is about to rise over the archways and turrets of Jaffa. And the land my great-grandfather sees is just as he hoped it would appear: illuminated by the gentle dawn and shrouded by the frail light of promise. Do I want him to disembark? I don’t yet know.”
1897 Teodore Hertzel, travels to Palestine, investigates land. Choses not to see. Norman Bentwich. 1917 Balfour Declaration. The Sursock land purchase in the Jezreel Valley, the most fertile region of Palestine. Kibbutz. Jewish Labor Committee. Rehovot. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. Israel becomes the worlds largest orange producer. 1936 attacks on Jews begin in Palestine. 1937 Letter from Ben Gurion to his son Amos (re the need for compulsory transfer of Arabs). Hagana. The tale of Massada. Meeting between the Grand Mufti and the Nazis. The tragedy of Lydda (Lot). 1947 United Nations partition of Palestine. Racism in Israel against Mizrahi Jews. Gush Emunim. The Occupation of Ofra. The first intifada. Brit Shalom (Ahad Ha’Am). Yossi Beilin. Oslo Accords. Terrorism by Baruch Goldstein, assassination of Yittaz Rabin. The Dimona choice of nuclear proliferation.