20 letters, handwritten and signed by Leila Mantoura, addressed to Ruth Dayan. England, Turkey, France, Malta, 1977-95. English. 20 letters, sent by Leila Mantoura to Ruth Dayan over a period spanning three decades (thirteen typewritten letters; the remainder handwritten; most containing a number of pages; hand-signed). The letters deal with a variety of subjects; some are of a personal nature, venturing into subjects such as love, intimate relationships, children, grandchildren, and career issues; others involve various business affairs; and still others relate to politics – both inside and outside Israel – and touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the conflicts in Lebanon, and more. Leila Mantoura (1927-?), Christian Palestinian, native of Jerusalem, daughter of the physician, ethnographer, and nationalist Palestinian author and intellectual, Dr. Tawfiq Canaan. With the termination of the British Mandate in Palestine, she moved to Beirut, and from there, in the 1970s, to England, where she settled and opened the gallery "Al-Mashreq" ("the Orient"), devoted to art and ethnic objects. Played an active role in the struggle for Palestinian liberation, partly under the auspices of the public relations firm she headed, "Free Palestine and Eurabia, " and partly through the humanitarian aid society she also directed, "Medical Aid for Palestinians." In her autobiographical work, "...Or Did I Dream a Dream?, " Ruth Dayan wrote the following about Leila Mantoura: "On rare occasions throughout my life I have met women who have become my friends in the deepest sense [...] Not long before I decided to divorce Moshe, I met a woman who quickly became this kind of friend. Our relationship is, first and foremost, based on understanding as people. But it is terribly complicated by the fact that she is an Arab patriot just as much as I am an Israeli, and the tension in our conflicting feelings is a powerful emotion between us. We both spent our youth in Jerusalem, and that is part of it, too. She is the "Theresa" whose mother I visited at the leper home near Jerusalem, and she has lived away from her homeland for more than twenty years." (Ruth Dayan and Helga Dudman. "...Or Did I Dream a Dream?", Steimatzky's Agency / Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London & Jerusalem, 1973, p. 260). Size and condition vary. Overall good condition. Enclosed: Five color photographs of Ruth Dayan and Leila Mantoura (1994; handwritten captions on backs of three of them). Provenance: Estate of Ruth Dayan.