Henry Gurney served as the last Chief Secretary of the Mandate Government of Palestine. From mid-March until mid-May 1948, at his headquarters in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Gurney wrote his diary. He wrote while under the fire of Jews and Arabs alike, as both groups took aim at the British Administration in Palestine while the Mandate drew to a close and the country spiraled into violence. This book provides for the first time, an inside view of the Mandate government during its final days. Jerusalem in 1948 was a microcosm not only of the historic Jewish-Arab conflict over the country, but also of the British Empire on the eve of its disappearance from the international arena. By vividly and candidly describing the details of this critical period in Palestine, Gurney's diary provides a unique window into the evolution of the Jewish-Arab conflict. The events he recounts helped define many of the contours which were to continue to shape the Arab-Israeli conflict up until the present day.