Another thing the British did gratified the Christians. Under Turkish rule the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem was disfigured by a wall separating the Greek choir and chancel from the nave and basilica, which is common to Orthodox and Catholic alike. This wall they tore down, so that now the whole church is open to view.
As a result of the war, and the cruelties of the Turks, the population of Jerusalem shrank from eighty thousand to sixty thousand, while Jaffa was almost depopulated. With British control, however, the people flocked back again, and a rapid increase is expected all through the Holy Land. The country itself suffered almost as much as the people from the outrages of both the Turks and the Germans. Crops were seized to feed the soldiers, while hundreds of thousands of olive and other trees were cut down to make fuel for locomotives. The Germans blasted out the trees with dynamite, destroying the roots so that no sprouts could spring up. Whole sections of Palestine were stripped bare, and at the same time cattle and sheep were taken away and killed. In some places the people burned nearly everything they had to keep the Turks from getting their possessions.
The British are working on a vast scheme of reforestation in connection with their irrigation plans. They are encouraging a project for building a dam in the River Jordan, above Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, which will furnish power for irrigation pumps and light and energy for all Palestine. Great nurseries have been established at Gaza, where Samson threw down the temple of the Philistines. In one operation, more than one hundred thousand timber trees and ninety thousand fruit trees were set out.
The new rulers of the Holy Land hope to restore agriculture, which fell into decay under the Turks, chiefly on account of the excessive taxes on the farmers. Local meetings of natives have been held throughout the country, to find out what the farmers needed most, and to put them in touch with sources of supply. There was found to be a great shortage of farm implements and machines, such as mowers, horse rakes, and other equipment. To encourage the natives, the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to be loaned by the Anglo-Egyptian Bank of Palestine for improvements on their lands. Within three years after the war Palestine agriculture produced more than two million bushels of wheat, one million bushels of barley, one and one quarter million bushels of millet, six thousand tons of grapes, and one hundred and fifty thousand gallons of olive oil. The number of sheep and goats was estimated at more than a quarter of a million of each. Figs are grown in upper Galilee, but not so many as will be the case when shipping facilities are provided. For the second year under British control, the import trade of Palestine amounted to not quite twenty million dollars, most of which was with Great Britain and Egypt. The people import foodstuffs such as rice and sugar, and buy a great quantity of cotton goods.
Some think that Palestine may become a second Switzerland and grow rich on the visitors to the country. For many years both pilgrims and tourists have been going to the Holy Land by the thousands, but little has ever been done for either their comfort or their convenience. With the country under good management by the British, and modern conditions provided, more people will want to make the trip. Many thousands of Palestinians could undoubtedly be employed at a profit in serving the visitors and selling them goods.
Communications in Palestine have been greatly improved and extended. Besides the military railway from Egypt, General Allenby and the British built more than two hundred miles of highways, and these are being added to all the time. There are now four hundred and eighty miles of railroad track and five hundred and twenty-three miles of public highways. The cars on the line from Egypt to the Holy Land are comfortable, and sleeping and eating accommodations are provided. One may ride from Cairo to Ludd, and there connect with the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, or continue on to Haifa, whence the journey may be continued for twelve hours over the French railroad to Damascus. Every two weeks aeroplanes carry mail from Egypt and Palestine across the desert into Mesopotamia, where the British are developing the large interests they gained there as a result of the war. The Zionists have revived an old plan for a two-hundred-and-fifty-mile ship canal through Palestine as a supplement to the Suez Canal, but it does not seem likely that this scheme will be worked out with the British controlling Palestine and the Suez Canal.
The British plan to extend into Mesopotamia the railroad system already connecting Palestine and Egypt, so as to link up the countries of three rivers, the Nile, the Jordan, and the Euphrates. This will supplement the Berlin-to-Bagdad line which the Germans thought would give them control over a new eastern empire. Another project that is now much talked of is to dig a tunnel thirty-seven miles long under the hills to carry water from the streams along the coast of the Mediterranean into the Jordan. The fact that the Jordan is far below sea level makes this physically possible, even if not economically practicable. Extensive improvements are planned for Haifa, which as a port and the terminus of the railroads to Damascus and Jerusalem will be an important place in the future. The British also expect to empty into ships at Haifa the oil they plan to pipe across the desert from Mesopotamia. Haifa used to be great in ancient days, when it was the chief landing place of the Crusaders and the transfer point in the early trade between Venice and the Far East. It is now predicted that its population of twenty thousand will increase to one hundred thousand within ten years.
The French have a mandate for Syria, as the British have for Palestine, and the boundaries of both regions have been redrawn. Damascus is included in the territory under French control. Syria is nominally independent, and the natives have not been altogether satisfied with the way the French have governed their country since the Sultan’s power was overthrown.
Very little has been left of the Turkish possessions, as Armenia has been declared independent, and the Greeks given a footing in Smyrna and the surrounding district. Once these regions become adjusted to the new conditions following the war, it is believed they will enter upon a new era of prosperity and rapid development of their many rich resources.
THE END