Dr James A.S. Sunderland

You may think you have a cool academic profile picture, but none of us can ever live up to this!

More bizarrely, there was a whole debacle over what to feed a Kosher premier. Messages flowed back and forth over this issue. The Gov. were keen to avoid repeating the faux pas of feeding the Israeli Economic Delegation the very un-kosher treat of... prawn cocktails.

There were huge security concerns as the FCO feared someone might try to attack Begin for his terrorist past. FCO officials and the PM's office received many angry letters about the visit. One letter required a special response, coming from the last High Commissioner of Palestine who condemned Begin

The visit of Menachem Begin to Britain in Dec.'77 is truly fascinating. Previously barred & then discouraged from visiting Britain, when Begin became Israeli PM, the Callaghan Gov. scrambled to decide how to deal with his visit. All sorts of madness in the files, not least this comedic 'transcript.'

The Association for Products of Eretz Israel ran many of these posters telling buyers to look for the symbol shown which indicated that the watermelon was grown on a 'Hebrew farm.' This was part of efforts to protect Jewish labour by Zionist groups, against cheaper Arab labour and foreign imports.

Just seen Palestine36 at the cinema & there's a momentary nod to current Palestinian symbols during a scene at a wealthy Arab dinner party where the camera lingers for a moment on a large chunk of watermelon. But fascinatingly, during the British Mandate the watermelon was often a Zionist symbol!

I'm speaking tomorrow in Cambridge. Come if you want to hear of Smotrich's Palestinian family

www.ames.cam.ac.uk/settlers-mig...

Civil Service-ese English = bureaucratic, opaque, often means the opposite of what it seems to say or requires careful reading between the lines to gain an understanding of its meaning.
American Dunce-ese English (Trump variant) = bombastic, self-congratulatory, content bereft of much meaning.

When studying Palestine under the British I always say I can operate in three languages for my research: English, Hebrew, & Civil Service-ese English. I pity future historians looking at today who will need Hebrew, Arabic, & American Dunce-ese English to try and fathom the blundering of US in Pal.

contracts, often non-renewable or ballotable, and with gaps over summer so that you have to move out. It’s exhausting. I’ve lived in 16 different addresses since I moved to uni. That’s insane! And it’s not that (some of) these properties are not nice or in excellent locations: I've lived in […]

Two years ago this month I started stained glass as stress relief between thesis writing. My 1st piece was a mess. But this Mon. I completed the latter pieces which will be a surprise gift for two friends not on here. Sometimes progress is only visible in hindsight.

Postwar Gaza authority potentially led by Tony Blair ‘would sideline Palestinians’ Draft plan’s critics say it hands power to international figures and splits Gaza from Palestinian Authority in West Bank

Life repeats first as tragedy, then as farce, then apparently as a bad rendition of the British Mandate (which, to be fair, combined tragedy and farce quite spectacularly).

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Me for the Spectator on why recognition of Palestinian statehood is a step in the right direction, and how promises and symbolism alone are not enough.

I see we're back to Brits trying to force Palestinians to accept ways of running their country which are deeply unfair, probably won't work, and pay no attention to what they actually want. It's just like the 1930s and 40s all over again...

Today in reassuring library signs...

Of course, 'Jerusalem' stone often did not (and still doesn't) come from the city, but shipping stone from the UK is next-level stuff.

Deeply ironic because a) of how much effort the British put into espousing ideas about making use of local material to blend into the environment (supposedly), and b) the building meant to personify the past of the country has its story told through material from the colonial power. Lots to unpack.

Eric Gill works on carvings at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, 1934

Fascinated to find that, despite strict rules about building in Jerusalem, & attempts to inculcate certain ideas about 'local' materials, the carvings at the Rockefeller Museum, representing historical rule of Palestine by different civ.s, are made from Hopton Wood Stone from Derbyshire.

I tried (and failed) to design and paint this window of St Cecilia to look serene and have a soothing effect. Instead she judges me every time I'm in the office. I somehow made her the patron saint of resting bitch face...

Ohhanessian seems to have liked the design and concluded it was commercially viable. We can see copies of the casts of the Dome (near top right) awaiting painting alongside other designs in the background of a picture of a member of the studio working on painting a vase.

It appears the initial design came from a piece created by Ohannessian for the British town planner and Arts & Crafts enthusiast C.R. Ashbee and was designed as a gift for Queen Mary upon her wedding in 1922 from the Arab's of Palestine.

Going through archival photos I stumbled across this picture I took of a charming Dome of the Rock model produced in the 1920s in the workshop of Tavit (David) Ohannessian just off of the Via Dolorosa. These were commercial products, which could be bought from Ohannessian's workshop.

As a history tutor at Christchurch in the 1920s, J.C. Masterman was told by a colleague that there were two principles to be observed at Oxford. Firstly, 'no gentleman works after dinner,' & secondly, 'no gentleman works after lunch.' I endeavour to bring these principles to my work in Cambridge.