LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]

THE CASE OF THE GREEK PATRIARCHATE IN PALESTINE.

[To THE EDITOR OT THE " SPECTATOR."]

Sta,—The disregard of ancestral usage which roused a hornets' nest among the peasant proprietors of Beisan finds its counter- part on a larger scale in the methods employed in the affairs of the religious communities in Palestine. If ever, in Turkish days, there existed one inviolable principle, one inalienable privilege, one sanctuary, it lay in the acknowledged right of religious communities to self-government and to the control of their own endowments. Only those who have lived in close intimacy with Arabs can realize, moreover, the intricacies of Wakf (or endow- ment) proceedings and the way in which the income of private individuals is involved through the law of remainder under the Wakf system. But to-day, with an audacity unknown in the most despotic Turkish days, a trespass is being committed upon these ancestral rights. Be it noted that no sacrilegious

[• Since this letter was written the Bank Rate has been reduced from 5i to 5 per cent.—En. Spectator.]

finger is laid on Jewish religious communities, which are left to enjoy complete internal independence.

The suspicion of the Arab mind was justifiably inflamed by the fact that in this arbitrary assumption of control by the Administration action has been directed, in the case of both the Moslems and the Greek Church, towards their endowments in the shape of land. Setting aside the recent attempted inter- ference with Moslem Wakf, which was so hotly resisted by the Moslems that the Government, realizing that it was playing with fire, withdrew its proposals, let us turn to the affairs of the Patriarchate.

Owing to the war and to internal dissensions, the Greek Church is in debt to the extent of about half a million sterling, True, some Government aid is needed to extricate it from its difficulties, and such help would be welcomed but for the fact that the Administration of Palestine is openly. Zionist._ The pious Greek resents with every fibre of his being the con- trol of Greek Church finances by a Jew. In his conception, such action " would crucify the Son of God afresh," and various alternative suggestions have been made by the Patriarchate for the liquidation of the debt. None of these have, however, received Government sanction. And for a reason which to the Arab mind is sufficiently obvious. Weak and insolvent as the Greek Church is, it has one asset—land. Here the Greeks see a Zionist opportunity, and such it undeniably is, whether they make use of it for their own ends or not. Land the Zionists must have if they are to realize their ambitions; Zionists are the only people who have the money to buy, and the permission to purcharm large tracts is directly in the hands of the High Commissioner, an avowed Zionist. A forced sale of Greek Church property would at least do something to appease Zionist land hunger.

Arab resentment was not allayed by the Cirdinance published in the Official Gazette of September 1st, 1921, a document masterly in the way in which it provides the opportunity for the realization of Zionist desires in this direction, but unarmed. able in its integrity if it were not in doubt by reason of its background.

A body of five persons, nominated by the High Commissioner, is empowered " in its uncontrolled discretion " (Section 7, (1) (u) ) to discharge Greek Church obligations, " to assume the direct administration of any department, property, or opera- tion " (Section 7 (1) (ii) of the Patriarchate, within or outside Palestine, and to sell "any property dedicated'to the poor or the monks, whether with or without remainder in trust for any other object, any provision of the Law of Wakf to the contrary notwithstanding " (Section 8 (2) ). A complete register of the immovable property of the Patriarchate is prepared.

This Ordinance has raised a storm of opposition in the Greek Church. The Greeks regard these arrangements as a forced sale which would result in the direct and permanent dis- possession of one religious body in favour of another; they know that land once sold to Jews in Palestine is to be held, under the Zionist organization, as an inalienable Jewish possession; they know, moreover, that since the agents of the Zionist Commission exist in every department of the Adminis- tration, and have access to the most secret documents, the whole business of the internal affairs of the Patriarchate will be at the disposal of the very persons to whom their dispossession from their lands would inevitably be a supreme advantage.

They regard the situation with the grimmest foreboding. For the two or four years of the life of the Commission the

affairs of the Greek Church will be under its control. No

payment under the Ordinance can be made, either to the Patriarch or to his doorkeeper, except with the consent of

the Commission. The Greek Arabs ask how can these things be under British rule when under the Turks they would have been impossible, and they quote an Arab proverb, "If our ruler oppresses us, to whom can we appeal?"

So far, the Ordinance. But the worst fears of the Arabs, both Moslems and Christians, have been confirmed by the publication of the terms of sale, issued by order of the President of the Commission, for the liquidation of Greek Church debts (October 5th). These terms have been so arranged that owing

to the economic condition of Palestine no individual purchaser

can afford to buy... The property in question is for sale in large blocks, close to Jerusalem, some of it within a few yards of the walls. Six plots, amounting in all to an area of 876,000 square metres, including eight houses, four cisterns and olive yards, are to be sold in one lot. Fifteen other lots. most of then within a mile of the city walls, are also being offered for sale,

with a surface area of 462,850 square metres. This is Christian land, held inviolate by the Turk, which must pass for ever into Jewish hands, since there is no one else to buy owing

to the impoverishment of the people, due to the war. The Jews will get it, not on ordinary terms, but at their own price. Every Christian and every Moslem knows that this sale is the Zionist opportunity. If it were for sale in small blocks the people could buy, but the arrangements for sale

in large parcels hands the land over to the Jews de jure before any sale has taken place. The unscrupulousness of this transaction is made clear when we remember that the mandate is not yet issued, and that Great Britain is still administering the country as occupied enemy territory, since the Treaty of Peace with Turkey is not yet ratified.—I am, Sir, Sm., PALESTL'-A.