G.M. Ben-Nathan was born in London in 1944 and graduated in 1968 in Social Anthropology at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. He was able to leave full time business in 2004, initially to contemplate one particular problem connected to his student studies.

His first book in 2008 “I’m Adult ! (Aren’t I ?)” called for a formal rite of passage in
Western Society to effect transition from child to adult status. The book was an exercise
in applied anthropology. Its recommendations - acquiring social skills, social experiences
and volunteering - were taken up by Prime Minister David Cameron’s Youth Advisor at
the time, Paul Oginsky. They formed the basis of the UK Government’s first National
Citizen Service (NCS) programme in 2009. To this extent, the book has had influence.
Cumulatively, nearly 500,000 young people have taken part in NCS programmes.
Unfortunately, however, NCS has underperformed. It has lacked the all-important
element of rite of passage. For as long as this is so, NCS will have problems. A child-to-adult
status-changing rite of passage is a vital sine qua non.

As for this latest booklet, the Middle East conflict is not exactly a murder mystery. It might
however be seen as “The Mystery of the Twice Promised Land”. Whatever the case,
the author sees himself as a latter-day Sherlock Holmes who has enjoyed expending
considerable detective-time uncovering the far past to get to the root cause of the
mystery: how is it that two apparently separate peoples seek exclusive rights to every
square inch of the same piece of land? Inasmuch as the future, for both sides, is best
engaged by reference to the past, this work, too, may in time be a beneficial influence.