Week 1 -Labour in power, the 3 circles

~ hywel1

Here are the slides for our first week.

Ernest Bevin, the larger-than-life Foreign Secretary for most of Attlee’s 1945-51 government and the man who did as much as anyone to shape British foreign policy after WW2, is the subject of a very good biography by Alan Bullock.

The same writer also produced a shorter book that concentrates solely on Bevin’s time at the Foreign Office.

There’s a review here of book on Clement Attlee himself which covers foreign affairs.

Finally, there’s a book about Churchill and the Empire here – by going through his own personal history as a roving reporter and then in politics it gives a good insight into where his imperial enthusiasm came from.

3 thoughts on “Week 1 -Labour in power, the 3 circles”

  1. I am commentating on Week One power point slide no.13. The narrative “Nakba – around 700,000 Arabs are forced out of their homeland”. This is not exactly true in my opinion as many of the Arabs who left left of their own accord and they were encouraged to do so by the leaders of the surrounding Arab countries. One day after the State of Israel was declared the armies of five surrounding Arab countries attacked Israel with the intention of driving out all the Jews and destroying the one day old State of Israel. The Arabs who fled were not forced out by the Jews but were acting on the instructions of their fellow Arabs who said “we will get rid of the Jews and then you can return”. The Arabs who remained became full citizens of the new State of Israel with full rights while the Arabs who fled were left to fester as refugees in refugee camps to be used and to become pawns in the Arab propaganda campaign against Israel.
    At the same time a greater number, about 800,000, of Jewish citizens of Arab countries were expelled (ethnically cleansed) from the surrounding Arab countries. Most of these Jews moved to Israel.

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    1. Very interesting, Bryan. Do you have any weblinks for these sources? Thanks for this and please try to share links where possible.

      All the best.

      Rory.

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      1. Hi Rory,
        Thanks for the comment. I can give many links to support my comments. Here are a few :
        The first is a chapter from a book by Alan Dershowitz “The Case For Israel”

        Click to access Alan-Dershowitz_The-Case-for-Israel.pdf

        A bit long but worth reading.

        The second is from The Huffington Post and also by Alan Dershowitz but much shorter
        “Palestines Self-Inflicted Wound” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/palestines-selfinflicted-_b_48751.html

        Also try The Jewish Virtual Library “The Palestinian Refugees”
        http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/refugees.html

        The Israel Advocacy Movement “Did Israel Create The Arab Refugee Problem”?
        http://www.israeladvocacy.net/knowledge/the-truth-about-palestinian-refugees/did-israel-create-the-arab-refugee-problem/#sthash.G1QpMrIe.pu4A19oF.dpbs

        Finally one on Jewish Refugees from Arab countries
        http://www.standwithus.com/booklets/Refugees_UK/

        Hope there’s enough there to keep you going for a while!
        Please let me know what you think

        All the best
        Bryan

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