These countries had become rich beyond the dream of avarice

IAM decrepit testimony to the attitude of Britain towards migrants, when I was a British soldier, in a peace-keeping force in Palestine, in 1947, where there was hostility between most Arabs and the newly formed State of Israel.

Britain had tremendous influence over almost all Middle East nations, after the Ottoman Empire had been defeated in the First World War. We soldiers were mostly ‘fair,’ in my biased opinion, but hated by both sides, as an occupying force.

Since WWI, several of these countries had become rich beyond the dreams of avarice, from the oil industry. Some of that wealth might have been invested in Palestine, to gain huge returns which must flow to the investor, when a lorry is substituted for a camel. The Palestine we saw came straight from the pages of the Bible.

Meanwhile six million Jews, and others, had been murdered in Europe in the greatest crime in history, and their relatives crowded onto steamships, to reach the ‘New Jerusalem.’ The policy of the British government then, at hugely wasteful expense, was that migrants who had committed no crime, who might have spent time in concentration camps, should now be imprisoned in internment camps, on the island of Cyprus. Under orders, I played my part in Haifa docks, in dragging families from one crowded ship onto ships which transmitted them to Cyprus.

I have no wish to pretend that the problems were not daunting, provided only that present British voters could learn the value of selfcriticism. Our proud self-adoration, that the British are a principled, compassionate nation, never was true, and only fools think that dishonest self-deception is any form of patriotism. Dishonest, complacent, conceited bigots are the worst guide to the future.