Spoiler Alert

Another day in paradise, as Jack the hippy always said, and which I never tire of repeating.
So, back to reading and lounging, and I’m surprised to find myself so far through 1948 which I started back in June when I was here. By midday it was finished..

The Jewish state had arisen at the heart of the Muslim Arab world-and that world could not abide it. Peace treaties may eventually have been signed by Egypt and Jordan; but the Arab world-the man in the street, the intellectual in his perch, the soldier in his dugout-refused to recognize or accept what had come to pass. It was a cosmic injustice. And there would be plenty of Arabs, by habit accustomed to think in the long term and egged on by the ever-aggrieved Palestinians, who would never acquiesce in the new Middle Eastern order. Whether 1948 was a passing fancy or has permanently etched the region remains to be seen.

Very satisfactory. But then, scratching my head a bit, I looked at the table of contents and realised there were huge sections that I’d no memory of. That’s the danger of Kindles - very easy to have absolutely no idea where you are. Apart from being in paradise, obvs.