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Books A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that shaped the Middle East | ||
James Barr is a significant modern author on the Middle East.
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He read modern history at Lincoln College, Oxford.
He has worked for the Daily Telegraph, and in Westminster and in the City. Today he lives and works in Paris.
While writing his most recent book, A Line in the Sand he was a visiting Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. It opens with his shock on discovering how, while British soldiers were fighting in World War II to save France, the French were supplying arms to the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine that later formed the core of the Israel Defense Forces. The rivalry between Britain and France is picked out as a key theme, which transforms the world, from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the violent birth of Israel.
Currently Barr is a visiting fellow at King's College London.