The Murder of James Leslie Starkey near Lachish. A different view from a Colonial Office file

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel’s recent article in the PEQ builds an intriguing case linking the murder of James Leslie Starkey in January 1938 with resentment relating to the expropriation of lands at Tell ed-Duweir. A file from the Colonial Office, held at the National Archives at Kew, London, sheds some further light to the original police investigation, and provides an interesting counternarrative to the one suggested by Garfinkel, supporting the original understanding of the murder within the context of the political upheavals in Palestine during the British Mandate.