Many Paths to Peace: The Political Memoirs of Norman Rothfield - Norman Rothfield

These are the political memoirs of a redoubtable warrior for peace. For over sixty years, Norman Rothfield has campaigned for social justice and world peace, and against racism and intolerance.

From being the youngest city councillor in Britain in 1934 he has become the elder statesman of progressive Jewry in Australia in the 1990s. Along the way he has been a spokesman for the Executive Council for Australian Jewry, a president of the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism, and a foundation member of a number of liberal political organisations.

He is best known for his work to foster peace in the Middle East, especially through his advocacy in Paths to Peace, the journal he and his wife, Evelyn, founded in 1974 and published for twelve years. He was one of the earliest to affirm that an accommodation had to be reached between Arab and Jew In Israel, and that it would involve trading land for peace.

Norman Rothfield's work has brought him into contact with many political leaders, ranging from Ben Chifley and Arthur Calwell to Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. It has also brought him into conflict with extreme leftist Bill Hartley and with Jewish conservative Mark Leibler.

His account of these activities and his battles with his critics provides both an invaluable record of post-war left-wing political movements in Australia and a revealing insight into a Jewish community whose leadership was often intolerant of dissent. It is also an excellent, concise history of the Middle East peace process.

Norman Rothfield has produced a work which resounds with his social-democratic values. It is, as his life has been, a testament to sanity, moderation and optimism.

Yarraford Publications 1997, paperback