Refugees in Europe, 1920-1948 -- Human rights: a "window of opportunity"? -- Jewish refugees: the long way from the camps to Palestine -- Political developments: the British, the Americans, the Zionists, and the Palestine question -- British immigration policy -- Italy and the Allies, 1943-1948 -- Italy and the Jews: the Fascist burden and the war time rescue -- Jewish refugees in Italy -- Britain and Italy: politics and pressures -- The Italians and the Zionists, the clandestine cooperation and the La Spezia affair -- Britain and the Jewish refugees: resistance and human rights -- Refugees as international actors or pawns
Summary
This book presents a multidimensional case study of international human rights in the immediate post-Second World War period, and the way in which complex refugee problems created by the war were often in direct competition with strategic interests and national sovereignty. The case study is the clandestine immigration of Jewish refugees from Italy to Palestine in 1945-1948, which was part of a British-Zionist conflict over Palestine, involving strategic and humanitarian attitudes. The result was a clear subjection of human rights considerations to strategic and political interests
