....but
not by much.
|
From Night Run to Palestine in George MacDonald Fraser’s the General Danced at Dawn (1970): |
. . Most of all I remember it on the Cairo–Jerusalem
run in 1946 or ’47, when the Stern Gang and the Irgun were at large, and
the windows were sometimes boarded because the glass had been shot out,
and lines were being blown up, and the illegal immigrant ships were coming
in through the blockade, and a new nation was being uncomfortably born
in a welter of hatred and confusion and total misunderstanding on all
sides. Ben Hecht was having a holiday in his heart every time a British
soldier died, and British soldiers were having a holiday in theirs at
the prospect of getting away from a country they detested, in which some
kind of illusion was shattered for them because the names of Bible stories
had turned out to be places where machine-pistols rattled and grenades
came in through windows. In the U.N. there was much talk and seeking of
viable solutions and exploration of channels, and in the Palestine clubs
young subalterns danced with their guns pushed round out of the way but
still handy. |
Comment: |
|
Another lesson on punctuation Mr. Fraser, thank you. And one that can remind us of where terrorism was born. | |
And
an appropriate quote (from a fictional rendition of real soldiers): |
||
Private Cole | Why us? | |
Colour-Sergeant Bourne | Because we’re ’ere, lad. And Nobody else. |