History

Foreign Office fears for Palestine prompted by intercepted Ben-Gurion papers

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:48:50 +0100

Foreign Office hopes that a resolution to the situation in Palestine could be delayed until after the war were shattered in 1941 after they intercepted the private papers of David Ben-Gurion detailing Zionist objectives and his discussions with Anglo-Jewish leaders.

Secret records released this week at the National Archives reveal that in late 1941 as he set off for America, against a climate of growing British suspicion toward the Zionists, the censorship authorities "removed from Mr Ben Gurion's luggage" papers relating to his time in the UK.

The Foreign Office described the papers as of "first class interest and importance" and circulated them around senior officials, the High Commissioner and later to officials in the United States.

The seized papers included a lengthy study of the status-quo in Mandate Palestine, "Outlines of Zionist policy," in which Ben-Gurion detailed the need for a Jewish army to help the Allied effort (which was never realised) and discussed longer-term strategy for the Zionists. They also included the minutes from a meeting he and Chaim Weizmann had held that September with prominent British Jews, among them Anthony de Rothschild and Sir Robert Waley-Cohen.

The meeting yielded little agreement between the parties – indeed, in a March 1942 letter to Chaim Weizmann, also found in the files, de Rothschild said he remained "unalterably opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state" - but the minutes raised fears in the Foreign Office that these individuals, who had previously been avowedly anti-Zionist, were coming round to the Zionist cause.

In a letter of warning, Foreign Office official SEV Luke noted that while de Rothschild and Waley-Cohen, "who no doubt represent a strong body of opinion among British Jewry, showed themselves frankly hostile and apprehensive of the conception of a Jewish state" it was still "not possible to draw much comfort from the cleavage of opinion".

"All those present at the meeting were united on the need for large scale immigration of Jews into Palestine at the first possible opportunity, and were therefore equally united on the need for smashing irrevocably the White Paper policy," he said.

And after reading Mr Ben-Gurion's study he concluded "there is no hope that the question will be allowed to rest where it is… there is now no hope that they would agree to anything less than the whole of Palestine".

Luke explained that it was clear "that we must expect that from now on the Zionist's campaign will steadily increase in intensity irrespective of any embarrassment that it may be likely to cause the British war effort.

"It has hitherto been our assumption that the Palestine question will remain in abeyance until the end of the war," he said. "It is fairly clear from this memorandum that the Zionist leaders will not permit this. They will make every effort henceforth to exert pressure to marshal public opinion on behalf of their programme, and it is specifically stated in the memorandum that the question of immigration of Jews on a large scale to Palestine need not necessarily be deferred until after the war. They consider that, if the military situation permits, there is no reason to await the return of peace".

Although Luke's view of Ben-Gurion's report was that it was "a typical Jewish Agency document, detailed, lucid and logical", Oliver Lyttelton, a minister of state in the Middle East, described it as "the work of a fanatic idealist" and warned that if his scheme was carried out "it would inevitably lead to rebellion from Iraq to the Suez Canal, with strong repercussions in India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt".

The newly released documents also include warnings from between 1941 and 1943 about the tactics of the Stern gang, and discussion of the activities of illegal Jewish organisations operating in Mandate Palestine. "These organisations… constitute a potential danger far more serious than Arab violence," wrote Sir William Battershill, assistant under-secretary of state at the Colonial Office, in March 1942, "since it would be infinitely less easy to meet by the methods which were employed against Arabs".

The documents emphasise the hostility felt by some in the Foreign Office towards the Zionists, with Luke writing in a document in December 1941: "It is impossible not to feel… that in the Zionist organisation we are faced with a most formidable power, fascist in conception, tireless and ruthless in the attainment of its objectives, with great powers of organisation and backed by very important international political support.

"The political ideas and methods described in this memorandum are those which created the Fascist Govt. in Italy, the Communist Govt. in Russia and the National Socialist Govt. in Germany."

Chagall exhibition to open at Tate Liverpool

Jennifer Lipman — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:13:33 +0100

An exhibition dedicated to the career of Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall is to open in Liverpool next month.

Fifteen years after the last major retrospective of his work in the UK, and 27 years after his death at the age of 97, Tate Liverpool is to remind art-lovers of the modernist painter's genius.

Among the 70 paintings displayed will be self-portraits, the series of large murals the artist completed in 1920 for Moscow's State Yiddish Chamber Theatre, as well as examples of his magical, dream-like scenes of Jewish life in the shtetl. The exhibition will concentrate in particular on his early development as a painter in the burgeoning avant-garde movement.

Born into a religious family, the son of a herring merchant, Moishe Shagall (as he was known) grew up in what is now Belarus, in the Pale of Settlement.

He left home to study art in St Petersburg at the age of 20, then moved to Paris. He returned to Russia and was forced to stay there during the First World War, and later sought refuge in the United States during the Holocaust.

Much of his work contained Jewish themes, including his famous Jerusalem Windows, at the Hadassah hospital in Israel, which depict the time when Jacob blessed his sons and they saw visions of the future.

Poem by celebrated Victorian feminist sold at auction

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:32:10 +0100

One of the final writings of a Victorian Jew who Oscar Wilde praised as a "girl of genius" has been auctioned for £3,500.

The poem by Amy Levy, At Dawn, was sold at Bonhams on Wednesday for £500 more than anticipated.

Written around 1889, shortly before Levy's suicide, it is the first time any of her work had been made for sale.

A feminist who had a relationship with the novelist Vernon Lee, Levy defied the expectations of her middle-class Jewish upbringing, becoming Newnham College Cambridge's first Jewish woman student.

Despite her premature death at 27, she was a prolific writer, publishing books and essays and attracting praise from Wilde.

"When you think of the prejudices women of the time faced, and for her to face them as a Jew, then [her story] is even more extraordinary," said Roy Davids, who sold the poem.

Dickens’s Jew — from evil to delightful

Charles Drazin — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:40:29 +0100

When David Lean directed Oliver Twist 65 years ago, the character of Fagin had already been long established as a popular villain. There was the serialisation and subsequent editions of Charles Dickens's novel, while the celebrated actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree played the part in a successful stage version in 1905. And there had been many film adaptations. Lon Chaney was Fagin in one of several silent versions; Irving Pichel took on the role in a 1933 sound version.The George Cruikshank drawings, which accompanied the original serialisation, provided a model that made Fagin, with his long beard, hat and notorious, beaked nose, as instantly recognisable a villain as Captain Hook or Dracula.

The crude, racist stereotyping went back to the original conception of the character. When Fagin makes his first appearance, he is described as "a very old shrivelled Jew, whose villainous-looking and repulsive face was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair". He is then referred to invariably as "the Jew" as though that were the key to his behaviour.

Dickens came to regret this, explaining that, at the time, the kind of criminal he was describing invariably was a Jew, but he was so uncomfortable that he removed many of the references from a later edition. In practice, however, it was no more than a gesture, offering little practical mitigation of the racial slur. A richly dramatic caricature, Fagin lived on into the 20th century as a negative but often revived archetype of Jewishness.

Lean's 1948 adaptation presents Fagin faithfully as the duplicitous criminal of "evil conscience" that Dickens had created. It does not add racist colour that was not already there, yet at the same time gives full weight to a portrait of rare nastiness. Beneath a surface warmth lies utter viciousness. Fagin grooms his young orphans to steal. He seems to offer them sanctuary but in reality condemns them to ruin. In their joint criminal enterprise, even his accomplice Bill Sikes is the victim of Fagin's superior intellect. Sikes steals, Fagin fences; Sikes provides the brawn, Fagin the brains. Although Sikes kills Nancy, it is Fagin who puts him up to it.

In a chilling sequence in the Lean film, which culminates with Nancy's murder, Fagin asks Sikes what he would do if he discovered that the Artful Dodger had "peached" on him. "I'd smash his head in," he says.

Fagin asks what if it were one or other of the boys.

"No matter who, I would do the same." It is only then that he tells Sikes that his girlfriend Nancy has turned informer. The effect is that of unleashing a savage dog.

Lean distilled Dickens's work into brilliantly cinematic images but it was the fidelity of those images to the original racist conception of Fagin that made them especially shocking in the context of the 1940s. The immediate aftermath of the Holocaust might have seemed the time to avoid such a negative stereotype, yet Lean carried on regardless of the consequences.

It wasn't that he hadn't been warned. In May 1947, the Production Code Administration, Hollywood's self-regulatory censorship body, said: "We assume, of course, that you will bear in mind the advisability of omitting from the portrayal of Fagin any elements or inference that would be offensive to any specific racial group or religion. Otherwise, of course, your picture might meet with very definite audience resistance in this country."

Not long after, make-up artist Stuart Freeborn began turning Alec Guinness into Fagin. He recalled that Lean requested two looks: one that followed the Cruikshank drawings, and another toned-down version. In the latter, Fagin "looked like Jesus Christ," remembered Freeborn. "David said: 'Forget that. It's not what we want at all'."

If Lean's instinct overrode a wider awareness, the ivory tower he occupied served only to encourage a blinkered outlook. Around that time, he explained the astonishingly favourable conditions under which the Rank Organisation financed its top producers to make whatever they wanted, how they wanted: "We can cast whatever actors we choose, and we have no interference at all in the way the film is made. No one sees the films until they are finished, and no cuts are made without the consent of the director or producer."

But surviving correspondence from the company's US distributor, Eagle-Lion, reveals that, behind the scenes, Rank was already regretting this set-up. In November 1947, Rank's publicity chief, Jock Lawrence, wrote to the head of Eagle-Lion, Robert Benjamin: "There are such problems… the Jewish one on Oliver Twist is a very serious one. It is something that I will have to show you here, rather than write them in a letter." He must have known that Lean had disregarded the Production Code Administration's advice concerning Fagin.

What made this seem all the more foolhardy was the crisis in Palestine. Lean's Oliver Twist opened in Britain a month after Israel's declaration of independence. Rarely could a première have been so badly timed.

Lawrence derived some comfort from the finished picture, which he saw only days before the première. "I was very happily surprised by the Fagin character," he wrote to Benjamin. "The film itself is so very good that the character of Fagin sinks somewhat into insignificance as compared to the whole. The fidelity of characterisation is such that I believe we have strong grounds for fighting any attacks… There is no doubt in my opinion, however, that the 'lunatic fringe' will attack the film on the basis of Fagin. But… it would not at all be justified except for the unusual length of the character's nose. However, we have it that way, and it is a truly great picture that I believe should overcome any such objections."

Lawrence believed that attacks would be inevitable when the film opened in the US. He suggested that Eagle-Lion delay the release to allow time for the Palestine situation to be settled, so that the film "might not be used by the Zionist groups for propaganda". He suggested, too, that Eagle-Lion's publicity stress the fidelity of the character to the original story. And it seemed to him "doubly important now" to organise a US visit of the child star of the film. "We can, in that way, stress the title Oliver Twist, through the character himself, taking away any attention possible from the Fagin character."

The Rank Organisation settled on a US release of September 1948. Following Lawrence's advice, it arranged a private advance screening for Jewish campaign groups. The reaction was not favourable. The Anti-Defamation League considered the characterisation to be an offensive stereotype that would be harmful in the light of existing tensions. The New York Board of Rabbis went even further, declaring it a "vehicle of blatant antisemitism" that "would play into the hands of un-American elements". It wrote to the president of the Motion Picture Producers Association of America asking that the film be banned. Rather than risk further protests that might jeopardise the company's other prestige releases, Rank postponed the release until a more opportune time.

The film's notoriety made it a magnet for further trouble. When, in February 1949, it opened in the British sector of Occupied Berlin, protesters picketed the theatre. They were mostly Jewish displaced persons, but their anger was shared by many in a city that was trying to recover from the poison of an all-too-recent-past. Berlin's mayor was one of several prominent gentiles to sign a petition that warned of the danger of "arousing antisemitism in Germany", and urged that the film be withdrawn. When the British authorities refused to intervene, the crowds were back the next evening and there were riots in which several were badly hurt. The British military government still stuck to its line that it would not impose a ban but must have been very relieved when Rank decided to withdraw the film.

The question of banning Oliver Twist was an issue that divided even its Jewish critics. The ADL stressed that at no time had it called for a ban, even though it believed events had borne out its warnings about the film's inflammatory nature. The American Council for Judaism condemned outright such calls, arguing that "opinions formed or opposition voiced after the event constituted the proper exercise of public opinion".

The film finally opened in the US in May 1951 after the Production Code Administration granted its seal of approval on the basis of cuts intended "to eliminate wherever possible the photography of the character of Fagin". The New York Times welcomed a sensible compromise: "Except in so far as the appearance of Fagin in point of time has been reduced, his motivating influence and his impact upon the story have been preserved. And that is both just to the purpose of the producers and considerate of those who might take reasonable exception to an excessive portrayal of a stereotyped Jew."

The lesson was that Fagin had to be rehabilitated. When Lionel Bart wrote his musical in 1960, he gave him the heart that was absent in both Lean's film and the novel. Reviewing the situation, Fagin finds it hard "to be really as black as they paint…" With irresistible tunes, the musical provides a lyrical redemption that makes him lovable. It rescues Fagin from the gallows that awaited him in the novel so that, memorably in the 1968 adaptation, he can dance towards a new dawn with the Artful Dodger, Jewish, exotic, other, but delightful.

Polanski's 2005 adaptation did not duck the retribution that faced Fagin but still offered a revisionist version. The novel describes Oliver's new guardian taking him to visit Fagin in prison, to show how he has received his due punishment. Polanski switches the agency for the visit from the adult to the child, who wants to express his gratitude to a man who gave him shelter.

"Fagin, you were kind to me," says Oliver. They hug and Fagin offers a final gesture when he tells him where to find his box of treasures. "It's yours, Oliver, it's yours."

What would Dickens have made of this? Essentially humanist and progressive, I think he would have understood why. But nonetheless he would have regretted the loss of a complex articulation of evil. Such was the price of too easy an acceptance of a racial stereotype.

British warned of 'bitterness' over handling of the Exodus ship

Jennifer Lipman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:21:43 +0100

The High Commissioner to Palestine warned officials in London that the "bitterness evoked" by events on board the SS Exodus in 1947 should not be underestimated.

The extent of the damage to relations between the Jews and their British rulers as a result of the decision to force those on board – many of them Holocaust survivors - to return to Europe is made clear in a series of newly-released intelligence reports from the colonial era.

"The Yishuv has followed events… with close attention," said one report, authored by Sir Alan Cunningham, then the British High Commissioner, noting the end to "the intermission in illegal immigration".

He wrote: "The intransigent attitude of the passengers has been applauded… Meanwhile the Hebrew press seizes every opportunity to use this incident as a stick with which to beat the Palestine Administration and His Majesty's Government, and to sustain the bitterness which the deportation undoubtedly aroused."

The ship, which was originally named the President Warfield and was referred to as such in the intelligence reports, is the most famous example of the illegal immigration that occurred in the years before independence, as Zionist groups sought to bring refugees from Holocaust-ravaged Europe to Palestine.

Their efforts were opposed by the British, with refugees held in camps in Atlit and Cyprus.

The Exodus set sail on July 11, but when it approached the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, British forces seized it. Three people died and those aboard were forcibly returned to Europe, at which point they declared a hunger strike. It was a public relations disaster for the British, but it still resulted in the Jewish refugees being transferred to displaced persons camps in Germany.

Another report reveals how the decision to return the illegal immigrants on the ship to France "undoubtedly caught the [Jewish] Agency unaware, and the successful preservation of secrecy until the transports were well on their way probably prevented a sharper reaction by the Yishuv [the Jewish community].

"Nevertheless the bitterness evoked by this departure from practice must not be underestimated," the report stated. "The Arabs are naturally gratified."

The High Commissioner noted that the decision to permit pregnant women to disembark at Gibraltar had been "met with little appreciation" and reported that the Yishuv signalized its solidarity with the refugees "by observing a day-long fast, which passed off uneventfully."

In a sign of the divide between the establishment and the Haganah, Sir Alan also said that the Jewish Agency had been "at particular pains to emphasize that it was not Zionist propaganda which had induced those on board the transport to refuse disembarkation in France".

The incident, later immortalised by Leon Uris, was a turning point in attitudes towards the Zionist cause, as photographs and reports were seen around the world. But it did not dispose the British towards easing restrictions; a report from later that year discussed use of force while searching rebellious detainees in Athlit, with the comment "In fact no greater degree of force was used than was needed to overcome opposition to the search".

It also details the methods used by Jewish detainees to evade their British guards. "When the camp was searched a number of pistols, bombs and uniforms were found, which had apparently been introduced into the camp in the false bottoms of food boxes supplied by the officially-recognised Jewish Prisoners Aid Society," explained one briefing. "In consequence visitors and food parcels have been stopped."

Arabs in 1943 'obsessed with Zionism' said secret British report into nationalism

Jennifer Lipman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:48:06 +0100

Anti-Zionism, suspicion of US imperialism and Allied loyalties were key concerns for the Arab world five years before the state of Israel was declared, according to a report commissioned by British officials in May 1943.

The report on "Great Britain and Arab Nationalism" was completed at the height of the Second World War, but remained secret for 70 years until its release at the National Archives this week.

AH Hourani, who compiled it, found evidence of an "obsession with Zionism" among Arab nationalists, out of a misguided belief "that it aims at dominating all Arab Asia".

He wrote of the belief that the allies were "committed to support of Zionism" over Arab aims, and noted "widespread feeling in favour of Germany".

In the section on Palestine he reported that while on the surface there had been a relaxation in pre-war tensions, "beneath the surface things remain as they were: and it is clear that Palestine, like Syria, is moving towards another crisis... Certainly the temper of revolution or even civil war is coming once more into existence".

Mr Hourani wrote that the Arabs were by 1943 more disposed to accept the British White Paper that they had rejected in 1939 "by a tactical blunder".

But he said: "Another important factor is at work: the obsession with Zionism has grown even greater if that be possible in the last years.

"The Palestinian-Arabs can no longer think dispassionately about the problem or see any limits to its size and importance. I have met responsible officials of the Government who believe that if the allies win the war they will send all the Arabs out of Palestine to the desert or to Iraq.

He added: "What causes particular outrage is the influence of the Zionists in the USA and the belief that even if Great Britain wished to carry out the White Paper, America would not let her."

In the lengthy report, which also covered what was then Transjordan, Syria and Lebanon, Mr Hourani delved into the structure of Arab nationalism across the region, noting that there was an "absence of constructive thought and organisation".

Sent to British colonial officials in May 1943, as the remaining Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto attempted to resist the Nazis, Mr Hourani's report makes clear that the Holocaust was not far from the thoughts of Jews in Palestine. He noted that while Palestinian Jewry was deeply split, "the consciousness of the tragedy of European Jewry holds all together."

"No Palestinian Jew, however much he disagrees with Zionist policy and thinks it is leading to disaster, can say the word that would shut the gates to the country against his brothers still in Europe."

Secret documents reveal plans for 'British Haganah' in Palestine as Mandate ended

Jennifer Lipman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:00:56 +0100

British men and women living in Jerusalem during the last days of the Mandate period planned to establish a "British Haganah" to protect themselves.

In a series of secret documents from the colonial period, newly released by the national archives after almost seven decades, the uncertainty felt by the British in what was then Palestine in the spring of 1948 becomes apparent.

Members of the British community in Jerusalem met in early 1948 to discuss setting up a group, which they described as a "British Haganah", noting that it was "the first time in 42 years" that they were discussing the question of protection.

The Jerusalem British community council was created "for the protection of their individual and collective interests", although it was predicted that the situation would not deteriorate "to such extent that all physical means will be used for protection". But a document explained that the aim "would be protection of life and property" and stating that "about 100 men of the community will be able to use arms". It continued: "The problem of arms will certainly not be a difficulty… as the withdrawing administration will provide them with enough equipment".

Minutes from regular meetings held from January to April detail discussion about medical supplies and policing arrangements for after the end of the Mandate period, including consideration of whether remaining British personnel should be concentrated "in a distinct and neutral residential area" and whether "a municipal police force in Jerusalem… could be left in being after the evacuation".

From the start of the year a series of warnings were issued urging Britons who were not government workers to leave Palestine "by the end of April", because "thereafter it will not be possible to arrange escort or transport facilities for them". On April 19, the High Commissioner noted that after the next day, any Britons who remained in the area did so at their own risk.

British officials seemed concerned not least as to who would bear the cost of the conflict, with one document noting that "in the event of a serious worsening of the situation many British subjects will approach this Government or subsequently His Majesty's Government's Political Mission, with requests for evacuation".

In a telegram to the Foreign Office on March 30, the High Commissioner for Palestine wrote that "the question arises regarding the care of British subjects… after the evacuation of Jerusalem". Sir Alan Cunningham explained that there would be around "100 Britishers", and that while they had been advised to stockpile supplies "the question of their subsistence during such a period is causing some anxiety".

In a sign that standards were not diminished even as war was imminent, a document from March 1948 reveals discussion about the provision of a British chauffeur for the representative arriving to oversee the transition.

But it was not all panic and planning for the worst. One document contained a request for British officials to acknowledge the efforts of those remaining in the area "to carry on the good work and keep the flag flying". And the minutes from a community council meeting two months before the British left reveal that a screening of the film Great Expectations had been arranged for members for March 17 – although there is no mention of whether the event went ahead as planned.

The tragic poet Oscar Wilde called a genius

Jennifer Lipman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0100

A handwritten poem written by one of Victorian Jewry's most highly-regarded writers and feminist thinkers shortly before her suicide is expected to fetch up to £3,000 when it is auctioned next month.

Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Clapham, south London, in 1861, Amy Levy defied expectations of both her gender, religion and her class to become only the second Jewish woman student at Cambridge, and the first to study at Newnham College.

A novelist and poet, she was first published at the age of 14 and mixed in intellectual circles, with her close acquaintances including Karl Marx's daughter Eleanor, the social reformer Beatrice Webb and playwright George Bernard Shaw.

Described by Oscar Wilde as a "girl of genius" and in her Jewish Chronicle obituary as possessing "a keen insight into human affairs, and exhibiting a strength of mind far beyond her physical strength".

One of her final works, a poem called At Dawn, that was allegedly inspired by her love for the feminist novelist Vernon Lee, will go on sale at Bonhams on May 8.

It is thought to have been written in 1889, only months before Ms Levy killed herself by inhaling carbon monoxide. She was just 27 years old.

The auction of the poem is unusual, - none of her archive has ever been made for sale before. "I'm almost certain it's the text she sent to the publisher," said Roy Davids, the current owner. Acknowledging that the poet is not a household name, he said that he hoped the sale would draw attention to her impressive career.

"She was extraordinary," he said. "When you think of the prejudices women of the time faced, and for her to face them as a Jew, then it's even more extraordinary."

Although she moved away from her religious upbringing as an adult, she always viewed herself as Jewish, writing a series of essays for this paper and also publishing in Wilde's Women's World magazine a story called Cohen of Trinity about a Jewish student grappling with his own sense of difference.

One of her novels, Reuben Sachs, set in the Anglo-Jewish community of Bayswater, in west London, offered a satirical look at her co-religionists and questions of identity.

"She is incredibly underrated," said Mr Davids. "It's a great shame and it's nothing to do with the quality of
her work."

British saw 1948 Jewish fighters as 'like those of Nazi Germany'

Jennifer Lipman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:16:12 +0100

The High Commissioner of Palestine viewed the behaviour of Jewish fighters as comparable to that of the Nazis, according to an intelligence report issued two weeks before statehood was declared.

On April 30 1948, Sir Alan Cunningham wrote to his superiors that as the Jews celebrated military successes their “broadcasts, both in content and in manner of delivery, are remarkably like those of Nazi Germany”.

In another report, he said that the Jews were prepared for statehood and an “all-out offensive” with “all the equipment of a totalitarian regime”.

Colonial administration records released by the National Archives in London this week reveal that as little as a week before the British departure from Mandate Palestine, the High Commissioner mistakenly believed that “all the ingredients of a successful truce were present”.

The documents detail increasing tension between Jews and Arabs in spring 1948, and the opposing reactions to the United Nation’s partition plan of November 1947 — “received with jubilation by the Yishuv”, but prompting “a mood of bitterness and universal suspicion” among the Arabs.

The papers show the contempt the British had for the Jews, who were deemed willing “to go to almost any lengths to achieve their aim”, and the collapse of any trust in the British by both Jews and Arabs.

Atrocities on both sides are detailed, with frequent references to Jewish “terrorists”, and graphic descriptions of violent attacks on each other or the British forces.

In one dispatch, an account is given of the massacre at the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, the facts of which are still debated today.

Although it is unclear where his information came from, Sir Alan wrote that 250 people were killed, with the attack “accompanied by every circumstance of savagery. Women and children were stripped, lined up, photographed and then slaughtered”.

The dispatch added that the attack was too much for “the strong stomach of the Yishuv” and noted condemnations by the Jewish press and the chief rabbinate. It also recorded the Arab revenge attack on the Hadassah Hospital convoy.

The intelligence reports also show the British view that while the Jews were organised, if “not without internal dissension”, the local Arabs were poorly served by their leaders and by neighbouring countries, despite “extravagant claims of victories”.

Sir Alan wrote on April 30 that the Arabs’ “much vaunted liberation army” was “poorly equipped and badly led”.

He continued: “In almost every engagement the Jews have proved their superiority in organisation, training and tactics.”

He noted that “the foreign Arab guerilla bands… having successfully stirred up the Jews (and incidentally provided them with the excuse that they are merely defending themselves against Arab aggression) are now proving quite unable to protect the local Arabs.”

Mazeltov! King David Suite to reopen

Simon Rocker — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:42:39 +0100

The horas are set to spin again and toasts to the Queen and the President of the state of Israel be raised once more at what was one of London's most popular simchah venues.

For 14 years the King David Suite has gathered cobwebs below the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in the West End. But now it is about to enjoy a new lease of banqueting life as the Grand Ballroom of the neighbouring Montcalm Hotel.

It will be available for kosher functions and remain accessible from the synagogue through a passage dubbed by some Western Marble Archers as the "drawbridge".

Baroness Thatcher, several royals and celebrities ranging from Eric Morecambe to Muhammad Ali were among the VIPs who dined at the King David.

The guest list at one of the final charity events staged there before its closure included Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher and model Kate Moss.

Even after the mazeltovs no longer resounded for real, it was used to film the wedding scenes of the 2004 Anglo-Jewish comedy Suzie Gold.

"It's like coming home," said Carole Sobell, who began her career in kosher catering at the venue. "It means something to every Jewish family in London. Grandparents were married, parents barmitzvahed there. Everyone I come across has fond memories of it."

The venue - which was opened by caterer Victor Schaverien in 1961 - has undergone a complete makeover at a cost "in excess of £5 million", according to Montcalm area manager John O'Neill.

A spectacular 10-metre chandelier, consisting of 1,800 droplets of Austrian crystal, adorns the centre of the renovated ballroom, while shiny cauldrons await their first sauce or soup in a state-of-the-art kitchen.

"They have done a fantastic refurb," said Ms Sobell. "There have been many attempts to get it done but it's finally happened."

The Western Charitable Foundation acquired the venue from the United Synagogue for £650,000 in 1998 but shut it because of the lack of a permanent caterer and the need for renovation. None of the plans mooted to reopen it, including for a Jewish cultural centre, came to fruition until the five-star Montcalm stepped in.

A spokesman for the Western Foundation said: "We have been working for some years to bring this much-loved venue back into use for the benefit of the community and we are delighted that a refurbishment to the highest standards will do just that, and provide a very attractive place for celebrations, conferences and major meetings."

The reopening has not gone quite without a hitch. A relaunch party for the Jewish community which was scheduled for earlier this month had to be cancelled at the last minute as work was still being done on the building. But the canapes and cocktails are expected to be circulating soon.