FIGHTING IN PALESTINE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1012, 30 December 1910, Page 5

FIGHTING IN PALESTINE.

TURKS AND rTHE DRUSES. By Tclecraph—Pros? AssociaUon-Cojjyricht. Constantinople; December 28. The Turkish troops had a sharp encounter with the Druses' in. tiie 81-Kerak district, near tho Dead Sea. ■ Four hundred and ■ fifty Druses were killed or wounded, and 600' captured'. The remainder are being pursued. , ' Tho Turkish casualties totalled. 81. :

A British officer, who lias.been travelling for eight months' in Turk'ish Arabia and Syria; writes to the London "Spectator to say that the Young Turks-havo increased rather than diminished the hatred, which the Arabs have alwavs cherished against their race. The Arabs com-, piaiii bitterly' that they, have no proper representation in the Turkish Parliament, that in Arabia all the offices are held hy Turks, who know no word of Arabic, and that tho Turks are trying to kill their language by excluding it from the schools, and making Turkish the official laacuage of , the Courts.' Arabic is the languafee of tho Koran, and any attempt to substitute for it an inferior tongue, like Turkish, is a provocation to religious fanaticism which may lead to devastating consequences. Tlje, writer says: "Already there is a largo and crowing party, headed by reactionaries, religious and political, which says that, tho present Constitution is eagaiiist the religious law, and, of course, 'their hands will bo materially strengthened by being able to point to the threatened destruction of the. holy language. The Bedouins of the desert hnvo always been inveterate foes of the Turkish' Government, and if the new regime, is. going to alienate the Arabs of the towns, the outlook for Turkish Arabian policy is ncit very bright."