Dr Gardner Thompson, Author, books on Israel and Southern Rhodesia

Dr Gardner Thompson, a UK scholar, has written two interesting books on countries located in culturally and geographically diverse areas of the world: Israel and Zimbabwe. His first book is:  Legacy of Empire. Britain, Zionism and the Creation of Israel in which he defines Zionism, why the United Nations established Israel and Palestine in 1948, the role of Britain and the Balfour Declaration in the area and suggestions on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The second book is “A Critical History of Southern Rhodesia” which focuses on the situation that existed before it became Zimbabwe. It was a moral debate as to whether the country would be an Apartheid System such as South Africa’s. Robert Mugabe emerged in 1980 as a leader of the independent state. Two lessons from the books: statesmen should realize that decisions will have major repercussions for decades and both sides should not be automatically condemned.