The Dominion. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 1, 26 September 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE

. The -shattering defeat which General Allenby's army has inflicted upon the Turks has practically completed tho conquest of Palestine. The populations, of this historic land have at last been rescued from tho deadly blight of Ottoman rule. General Allenby's victorious progress has released them from tho yoke of the oppressor, and has also brought order and justice in its train. What is now happening in Palestine provides a striking con-" fcrasfc between British and German methods of dealing with conquered countries. All the world knows how brutally the Germans havo treated the inhabitants of those parts of France and Belgium which their troops have overrun. The advance of the Huns has been characterised by murder, pillage, and wanton destruction. The record of their inhuman deeds has horrified civilised mankind. How different has been the triumphant march of General Allenby from Egypt; to and.through the Holy Land! Ho hah broken 'tho chains of tyranny wherever he has gone. He has proved himself to be a wise and just administrator as well as a great liberator. Before they had been driven out by the Allied'forces the Germans and Turks had almost bled Palestine k> death. General Allenby is now. binding up the country's wounds. The, story of his achievements will form one of tho finest chapters in the history of the war. _ His career of conquest places him in Hue with a majestic company of soldiers of undying fame, and' none of them has done his work more nobly than he has. Sir George Adam "SμAh, one of the highest authorities on tho history and geography of Syria, tells us that "the military history of Syria (which includes Palestine and Phoenicia) may,bo pictured as the procession of nearly all, the world's conquerors— Thothmes, Tiglath-Piles-ek, SAitaoNi Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar; Cajibyses. and Alexander; Pompey, Caesar, Augustus, Titus and Hadrian; Ojiar and' Saladin; Tamerlane.; Napoleon. And now again, she is one of tho fronts on which two ideals of civilisation and empire oppose their arms, but with issues moro momen-. tous for humanity than were-ever fought' out on these same fields be-' tween Semite and Greek. Home and tho East, or Frank ana Saracen." Every, Britisher has a right to feel proud of. the fact that General Allenby's mastery of tho country may justly bo regarded as a moral as well as a military conquest. The British occupation of Palestine has already caused a great improvement in the economic condition of tho Country, and has also brought order out of chaos. The Cairo correspondent of The Times states that when General Allenby's army entered Palestine the country was in a terrible plight, economically , and morally. The Turks had .stripped the people of all they . possessed. The. towns had been pillaged, and; the crops had been seized or commandeered, and practically no seed had. been left to the cultivators. The cattle and horses had been carried off. "It was into a disorgan , - ised, starving region, with its population depleted and generally in a state of panic and misery, -that wo entered in November last.", . The Turks -forced tho helpless Palestinians to accept payment in notes and to exchange .their gold for notes which had to bs reckoned at their face, value, 'though their real .valuo was but 20 per cent. The unscrupulous German 1 officers completed tho robbery. They received their pay in gold, which thoy compelled the people to exchange for notes at the current value.- Tho notes were sent to Berlin, where they were credited to tho officers at,face value, theDeutsche Bank having an agreement with tho Turkish Government that all notes presented- by <it shall bo repaid at par.. The Germans thus made about 400 por cent, profit on 'their salaries , . The coming of General / Allenby has' delivered the people from all this robbery and oppression. - And it has done much, more. It has suppressed lawlessness,; it has re-established the judicial system; it has done much to remove the'menace of starvation; it has reorganised the economic forces and resources of the country. The military authorities, assisted by the Palestine and' Syria Relief Fund and the Jewish organisation, have imported largo quantities of wheat, maize, millet, and rice from Egypt.' in order to avert the threatened famine, and useful work has been provided for tho inhabitants and rofugees. The transport . achievements have been wonderful. Though. Avith the exception of an occasional steamer to_ Jaffa, everything has to come over 'the trans-Sinai railway' line, all the requirements of the army in the field have been regularly provided, and in addition thousands of tons of commodities have' been brought up; for the uso of the civil population. Military horses havo been lent to the farmers, largo quantities of seed have been imported, and other forms of assistance have been given in order to help_ the people to tide over the most critical period. Conquest and reconstruction are proceeding simultaneously in a most remarkable manner.

Is this wonderful country which General Allenby lias just set free to bo thrust back, when the war is over, into the galling bondage under which it has groaned for So many generations? No rightthinking man or woman can contemplate such a pitiful future for the Holy Land, without dismay. Against suoh an outrage the moral sense of the civilised world would rise in revolt. Let us hope that Palestine will he able, in happier days to come, to look back upon the dark period of r i'arkish misrule as a tragic interval separating a wonderful past from a prosperous present and future.. Tho day of resurrection js at hand. Ecccut happenings give emphasis to Mn. Balfouh's historic declaration that tho British Government "views with favour tho establishment in Palestine of a national homo for the Jewish people, and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall bo done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in, any other country." Tho claims of the Turk deserve no consideration. Ho is an alien in

Syria with no native right to the soil. Sir George Adam Smith .asserts that the Turk hap neither inherited nor earned any rights to the country, and that his removal would present neither social nor economic difficulties. What has the Turk to show for the four centuries during which ...he has held almost unbroken sway? "We see tho results: the decay of large areas of fertility, the huddling of the more intelligent elements of the population upon the barer, less hospitable sholves of the land, the depression and embitterment of the rest of the peasantry." Is this state of things to be perpetuated for ever? Both mercy and justice imperatively " demand tho expulsion of the oppressor in order that this land with so many sacred memories and such great possibilities may bo given a fair chance to renew its strength, to work out its own salvation, and to create a future for itself worthy of its illustrious past.