TO WHOM PALESTINE?

Long familiar with the Mediterranean area through his assignment first to Italy, then -- with 1939 -- to the Near East and again and again to Palestine, Gervasi writes out of an informed and sympathetic approach to the Palestinian puzzle. He supplies the reader with basic information on the country and the people, the nature of British policy, the Jewish colonization movement, the part played by Palestine in the war, and the part played by Jews as soldiers and as a force in the world. He gives one insight into the part played by oil in world politics -- particularly Middle Eastern politics, and analyzes the factors back of the outbreaks of terrorism. And in final analysis, he presents his plea for a Jewish national homeland, weighing all claims in the balance, and showing how Jews can survive, physically and economically in the Holy Land, as history -- since the Balfour Paper -- has born witness. He sees the White Paper as appeasement politics directed to the Arab League. He denies the possibility of a pan-Moslem pact, and asserts Russia's detachment from Palestine. A highly informative but volatile vindication of Jewish claims, which is perhaps too emotional to be objective. Controversial.