Christopher Sykes, author and historian, died Monday at age 79. The son of Sir Mark Sykes, who played a key role in promoting and issuing the Balfour Declaration, Christopher Sykes wrote extensively on Zionism and the rise of Israel.
“Crossroads to Israel” (1965) remains a standard work on the Arab-Israeli conflict, reflecting the author’s intimate knowledge of Zionist affairs. He also wrote the definitive biography of Gen. Orde Wingate, the pro-Zionist British officer, whom he greatly admired.
“In “Two Studies in Virtue” (1953), he portrayed the career of his father, Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet, who died at a tragically young age shortly after World War I.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
