Ebook: Tidings from Zion: Helen Bentwich’s Letters from Jerusalem, 1919–1931

Living in Palestine as the wife of the British Attorney General, Helen Bentwich was immersed in the politics and society of the early days of the British Mandate. Despite her connections she remained in some ways an outsider--a critical observer, writing candid weekly letters to her mother that give insight into the cauldron of races and traditions, the intolerance and the idealism, that lie behind the history of twentieth-century Palestine and the foundation of the state of Israel. This selection of her letters mixes political comment with details of personal life and gossip; the gossip shows a society that has gone, but the political and religious problems are sadly familiar. Her family was well aware of the situation in Palestine, and she wanted to amuse rather than alarm them. But the frustrations and worries break through the letters' superficial cheerfulness to provide a vivid picture of the period.