Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Declarations

Recent events have triggered a re-reading of Sowing the Wind, whence we have gleaned the following gem.

Lord Arthur Balfour paid only one visit to Palestine, for inaugarating some university or something like that. As he disembarked, the customs official at Jaffa supposedly asked him, "Have you anything else to declare, Mr. Balfour?"

Heh :)

1 comment:

Ludwig said...

[apu] The proverb is priceless. Almost eerily describes what the British did in the Middle East. "Sowing the Wind" is most excellent, as are all other John Keay books (as we've belaboured here, here, here, and a little bit here too.

Thanks for the George Packer reco. Will see if it can be gandered at...