Two peoples living in a small country hating each other like hell

The British realised, however, that they had burdened themselves with an insoluble problem. ‘The problem of Palestine,’ wrote Britain’s most senior general, ‘[was] the same as the problem of Ireland, namely, two peoples living in a small country hating each other like hell.’ Nor were the Jews showing the gratitude the British expected of them. When the director of military intelligence visited Palestine soon after the riots, it dawned on him that there was no reason to suppose that the Zionists and British would ever be ‘really friendly’. The friendship would ‘only last as long as the Zionist State were dependent on Great Britain for military protection’, he realised. This was an insight that would prove acute.

J. Barr, A Line in the sand (2011), loc. 1,670