“This book has to do with the period in which Britain’s mandate in Palestine ended, the state of Israel was born, and the Arab refugee problem originated. Many historians have written on these matters, and many more will do so. I arrived in Haifa, Palestine, on 23 December 1947, and left Haifa, Israel, on 30 June 1948. A Once and Past Love records my recollections of those tumultuous months. The genre is obviously that of memoir, but to this observation I add a caveat. A number of matters arise in the pages below that are germane to the conflicting interpretations that characterize the historiography of the period. In this respect A Once and Past Love may be read as a source book and one perhaps of particular interest to adherents of that approach so indelicately referred to as “history from the bottom up.” My credentials in this respect were impeccable: I had served King and Country in Palestine in the lowly role of subaltern! “