PALESTINE.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1924, Page 4

PALESTINE.

(By Allmac).

Palestine, before the war. was to most of us merely a Biblical name and nothing more. One had passed through the mental stage when it was not even a living land, and had realised in a vague sort of way that beyond the banks of the Suez Canal, across that arid waste of sand, lay the Promised Land of the Old Testament. It was a field that few men, with

the exception of the Church Archaeologists and it stray business man front Kgypt or the Balkans, had ever visited. This wtis not to he wondered at. as to arrive there in those days necessitated a trip of a day or so in a none too clean small boat from Alexandria or Port Said to Jaffa, the landing over the side and so to the shore bv small rowing boats. \\ lien one liuallt did manage to land, uliieh was not ca-t owing to the stiff, there was no aernmmodation to speak of. and "tie "as faced with the prospect of a drive to

Jerusalem of about 00 miles or so in tin antiquated vehicle along a road with no surface and through country not uninfestetl with gentlemen of doubtful repute. "With the coming of the Croat AVar in 101-L however, began, for most of us, a period of great stress and enlightenment, and many who nitty chance to read this article will have burnt in the mid-day heat ol the desert. cursed the sand and the Hies with ti deep feeling of physical hatred, tint! frozen tit midnight, in winter, under the stars of'the Near Mast, ett route for the sumo Promised Land. Anyone who might have chanced to go through the canal in late Iffl.'i. would have soon realised that some great movement was afoot, who can ever forget the sight that met the eye, the resonant hum that filled the air. and the lauded atmosphere of the eastern night, conveying as it did the electrical feeling of war? Troops tit rest—it was the great army from Callipoli, which was* then panting on the desert saiids by the hanks ol the canal. As the army gradually advanced through the laud, we know that i’ouiani. llaza. Uccrshebn, .Jerusalem. Jaffa, Haifa. Damascus, and Aleppo fell one hv one and as the trail of war passed leaving confusion, as far a> the civil papulation was concerned, in its

train, it was found necessary to give the country some kind of government, and the form this took was the occupied Knemy Territory Administration. K.\K.M Y TKIiIUTORY ADMINISTRATION.

As has already been stated, the country was entirely disorganised, such administration its the Turks had left behind them had disappeared altogether, leaving nothing but chaos; and so the force to which the country instinctively turned for help was the British Army, in whose ranks were to be found many members of the most famous administrative services ot the world—the Indian C ivil Service, the Kgyptiait Civil Service, and the Soudan Civil Service. A few soldiers, with a sprinkling of these experienced nuministrators. assisted bv some few junior officers who made up for their lack ol experience by their enthusiasm), were therefore seconded from the army, and formed into the Occupied Knemy Territory Administration, under General .Murray as Chief Administrator, ami with headquarters tit the late Herman .Monastery on the .Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. The northei'n part of the country. Syria, was handed over to Branco, the frontier being gradually adjusted on a line north of Haifa, and the sooth. Palestine, came under

cur eon! ml. The whole country was divided up into provinces; a military Governor, with generally two or three assistants, was sent to each one. taking tin his quarters at the largest lot'll in the province ami the work of reorganising the the country began. It is difficult, in these highly-organised eities ol ours, to imagine a country with no single civilised public .service working: the law of supply and demand was inoperative; people had been driven from their homes; no crops, in excess of their actual requirements, had been sown for years; means cf transport were nonexistent: ami there was no police Inree at all. So. into this .‘mall disorganised land, small in area, hut la**ge in h:.~ tore, and of world-wide iniluemc. the newborn administration threw the whole weight of its endeavour. The change in two years was re-

markable. Alter the termination e? the (ironl War in 191-8 the work was preeeetled with at a greater pace, a police lore'* was raised from the local people, and officered by British oili e.-r-: all the various (Imialtincnts. which have liccnme uevt—sary t i enable one

coinp-!o;v to rtu'olvc without fr.'iftion liiismco, U\w. nsorhYine, agriculture, railway, puhlie works, customs. and education, etc. —wore lormed under competent men at headquarters in Jerusalem and made to function. Tho result soon became apparent. People returned to their home.-; all llm local industries, such as weaving, pottery making, orange growing at Jaffa, etc. began to revive; agricultural leans were made to the fellnhin. who began to sow their imps again: crime decreased, and everyone thought that the long-awaited period ol peace and prosperity under the British I’aj had dawned. But another cloud was already coining over the horizon, and the seeds of future trouble were already being sown. This cloud was the now famous Balfour declaration. stating that in the event of the mandate for Bale lino being given to the Britisn Empire, we would list* our best endeavour to further llie* osiabli-hnioi.t of a national home for the .lews in that c-*n’ntry. without prejudicing the rights civil or religious, of the existing j> u*ulation.

THE BAI.FOFR DECT.AII »T!OX. 1 do not pro) ose In enter deeply ini 1 the hitter realm of controversy that the attempt on our part to force this (h:c!aration on an unwilling people has raised, but-as an impaiti.d observer, one eaumit Imlti forming the opinion that the majority of the iiroyle of Palestine have a perfect right to resent very strongly the application of their country, by a foreign Power, the British Empire, at the instigation of a liody outside the Empire, the Zionist organisation, of a doctrine which riglitIv or wrongly they regard with the gravest apprehension ; all the more soas before the Balfour declaration was made' wo had already promised to recognise the sovereignty of the Arabs in those countries in the Neat- East under our tutelage. The present population of Palestine is somewhere about 509.0-99 Arabs. 70.090 Jews, and about 10.090 other denominations.

Xo one will, I think deny that the influx' of Jews of the better class and Jewish capital will greatly expedite the general advancement -of the country, but unfortunately a number of those imported dews from Central Europe and Ttussiu are not of a very good type, and are moreover, inclined to have socialistic views. At present, therefore, *t .seems that tin* whole movement is only being carried on under the protection of British arms, against the express wishes of the people of the country. Tho British Army lias certainly been withdrawn, more or loss.

of late, but in its stead we have some 800 men of that fine force, the 11 oval Irish Constabulary, who were to have been (disbanded under the general sacrifice made in Ireland not so long ago, but who were sent to Palestine to enforce our policy there instead. At tho present time there is a remarkable

growth of intense national consciousness throughout all the Mahommcdan world, the main parts of which are Turkey, Syria, Palestine. Egypt. Soudan. Arabia, Mesopotamia, and even to India; in fact, all the Near Eastern countries. As a proof of this we have only to remember the extraordinary manifestation of joy with which the victory of Mustapha Rental last year was greeted. This was regarded throughout these countries as the rebirth of the Arab Empire, with its capital in Constantinople, and, it is therefore to be deplored that this feeling against us is now being developed in Palestine. However, I have entered into this vexed political fpiestion more deeply than I bad intended, and my only excuse is that it may serve to place the facts before the public, t bowing that all is not now well in Palestine. This is all the more to he regretted as before the war the .lews of Palestine, who were on the whole a good industrious people, lived side >y side with their Arab brethren in peace and friendship, to the mutual benefit of loth. Tam not referring to the .lews who subsisted on chaiitt in Join salem. but more especially to those who. helped by the Unth-childs. formed those morel villages all around Jaffa. Jn 1010 the mandate was confirmed by the League of Nations, and the military administration as such ceased to exist. Her Herbert Samuel was sent out as High Commissioner for Palestine. and the country came under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Office. The services of a number of the ofheers who had served the country so well were retained; some were retired, and fresh men sent out from England; and so the transition from the occupied enemy territory administration to a civil government took place without any hitch and the work has been carried on ever since. To-dav wo have the Holy Land Ireginning to really recover from the years of stagnation under the Turks and tin ravages of war. and were it not for the trouble which l have indicated there would he no cause lor alarm. However, Wo can but hope that tin way limy yet he ouenod tin, and all 01 those who have the interests of hull Arab and Jew at heart will see Hu gradual evolution of a responsible and peaceful Hovermuoiit, holding in trust IW generations yet unborn that historical hmd which is held in such veneration hv the world’s three greatest religions.'Christianity, Judaism, and -Mohammedai’.ism.