THE NEW NATION

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 943, 6 September 1957, Page 17

THE NEW NATION

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, by L. F. Rushbrook Williams; Faber and Faber, English price 21/-. HALL Israel continue to exist? More realistically, will the United Nations and the individual Powers who have approved her existence face the reasonable consequences of their decision? It is a poor and dangerous compromise which proclaims this valiant © little State’s right to life, but has allowed it for ten years to be surrounded by vociferously proclaimed hostility and with perpetual guerilla warfare waged across an ill-drawn frontier. For those interested in this intractable probleni-in which the honour and material interests of the English-speak-ing world are deeply involved-Mr Williams has written a brisk and informative book. It falls into three sections: a brief and tight packed historical introduction; an account of Israel’s domestic policies and achievements; and a survey of her relations with the Arabs -those within and those without her boundaries, The first and third sections are well balanced, though there is no secret as to the author’s personal viewpoint. The second is stuffed even to surfeit with the glowing facts of Israel’s sustained effort to establish a cohesive, democratic and prosperous community. There is also sketched an interesting balancesheet of the results of Arab hostility. On the one hand there was economic loss from blockades, cutting the natural trade routes, and from warfare, only slightly compensated for by the quick, forced creation of some important assets; on the other hand, the very evident external danger has played an important part in the process by which thousands of immigrants from the most divergent backgrounds have been fused into a unity, and inspired to work with that nervous but sustained devotion which has made Israel what she is. Mr Williams has been meticulous with his facts; and, even if there remains an overall feeling that the book paints somewhat too rosy a picture, the record seems little short of miraculous. Those who think that Israel should never have been created must at least take note of her. tremendous and efficient will to live. Those who think that the existence of Israel must be accepted and made tolerable will find in this book grounds for believing in the possibility of peaceful co-existence of Jew and Arab. Reason could find a way; provided that reason be well armed and not bedevilled by the calculations of power

politics.

F. L. W.

Wood