married to another man

'Following the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 at which the idea of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine was first mooted, the rabbis of Vienna dispatched two representatives to investigate the suitability of the country for such an enterprise. The men reported the result of their explorations in this cable to Vienna:

The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.'

This is how Ghada Karmi's book 'Married to Another Man' - Israel's Dilemma in Palestine, begins. A must read for all those interested in the Middle East. T