A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 242, 9 July 1938, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Palestine History Another uprising of Arabs in Palestine is feared, and measures are iieing taken to prevent its'occurrence. From the time of the destruction of Jerusalem aud the dispersal of the Jews, in 70 A.D., the history of Palestine has been one of strife and bloodshed —mneh of it in the name of religion, for Allah. Jehovah, or .Jesus In early times false Messiahs roused the people against Koine —to meet death and destruction. Persians aud Arabs in turn captured the Holy City of the Jews. Early in the Middle Ages started the Crusades and of' 600,000 who left their homes in western Europe to deliver the sacred places of Christianity, only some -10.000 in the end reached Jerusalem. They took the city—and after 88 years of misrule vanished from the scene, leaving nothing behind them but an implacable hatred of the Christians. Later came the Mongolians, sacking, plundering, and pillaging. In 1516 Selim the Grim, of Turkey, seized Palestine and for nearly 300 years Palestine's story is one of misrule and savagery. In 1708 Napoleon invaded Palestine, but was repulsed. In 1847 the dispute between Greek Orthodox and Latin churchmen over the right to mark Christ’s birthplace with a star became one of the causes of the Crimean War. In 1914 came the Great War—aud General Allenby’s invasion. In 1920 a civil government was established to blend Jews and Arabs into a single nation. From that time on the tale is one of strife and distrust, culminating in the present outbreaks. Palestine Troubles

The control of Palestine is essential to Britain for the protection of the Suez Canal and the air route to India. In addition the oil pipe-line from Iraq, which feeds the British Navy in the. Eastern Mediterranean, runs across the desert to the port of Haifa. During the Great War, in order to win the support of the Arab populaztion against the Turks, different British representatives made mutually exclusive promises to different Arab leaders. It is usually accepted that the promise given by Sir Heury McMahon in the name of the British Government to recognise Arab independence represented the authentic policy of Britain. It was made in 1915 to the Grand Sherif of Mecca, afterward King Hussein of Hejaz, who was then widely recognised by the Arabs as their leader. The great Arab State which Hussein aud his friends desired never came into being. After the war, the French insisted on obtaining a foothold in Arabia, and received Syria as a mandate. The British Government, in the celebrated Balfour Declaration of 1917, promised the representatives of the Zionist movement that the Jews would be allowed to found a “national home” in Palestine. Five years later, on March 12, 1922, Sir Henry McMahon stated that in his letter to Hussein of October 24, 1915, he had intended to exclude Palestine from the independent Arabia that was then envisaged. This view was accepted in June, 1922, by Mr. Winston Churchill on behalf of the British Government.

But the' promises made during the war were numerous and obscure, and the Arabs contend that both Palestine and Syria had originally been promised to them. In the Arab vi,ew the transfer of Syria to France, and the establishment of the Jewish national home in Palestine are violations of their established rights. The Palestine Arabs have watched the consolidation of the Jewish colony with growing alarm, and feel that if the present rate of Jewish immigration is maintained they will be forced out. Here lies the cause of the repeated Arab revolts against the growth of the Jewish national home. ' .

No concession in regard to Jewish land purchase, Arab participation in the government of the country, partitioning of the country to place Jews and Arabs in separate compartments., or financial and economic advantages, has ever been accepted by the Arabs as adequate compensation. They will have nothing less than complete control of the destinies of Palestine, with its ultimate incorporation in ait Arabian empire. Haifa

Haifa, where Arabs and Jews were killed and injured when a bomb exploded in the crowded municipal market, is a seaport of Palestine on the south of the Bay of Acre and at the foot of Mount. Carmel. Since 1890 it has rapidly developed into a busy port and an active commercial and manufacturing centre. The chief manufactures are cement, soap, oils and tobacco. Egyptian cotton is being cultivated.

The harbour, which cost £1.250,000 and was completed in 1933, provides safe anchorage in summer in about 36 feet of water. There is a pier 425

yards long. The town is connected with Damascus by railway and the British .Mandatory Government has been a factor in the town’s progress. In the town are a secondary school, a district (the northern) court under a British president and two Palestinian judges, and a bench of honorarymagistrates.

.The pipe line from the Iraq oilfields terminates at Haifa. The population of 80,000 comprises Moslems, Christians and Jews.

Shanghai

Three bombs thrown simultaneously on the Bund, Shanghai, marked the beginning of the first anniversary of hostilities between China and Japan. Shanghai is the temple of foreign capital in China. One of the six great ports set aside as foreign trading-cen-tres by a Chinese Emperor in 1842, it is the richest city in the Orient. The whole of the trade flowing up and down the mighty Yangtse River in normal times centres in Shanghai, on whose skyline tower the tallest buildings ever seen in Asia. Shanghai, on whose waterfront is the Bund, and where land costs £1,000,000 an acre and more, is growing in all directions, out and up. or it was> liefore the present hostilities between China and Japan. The heart of all the city's development is the International Settlement, whose 12 square miles of wharves, factories. and department stores are governed largely by the British. To-day Shanghai is one of the world's tragic cities. Trade with the interior is at present dead. North of Soochow Creek the damage done to Chinese property is beyond computation. Observers have stated that miles of streets have been gutted by fire, innumerable big buildings have been ruined by bombardment, hundreds of warehouses packed with goods have been burned. One thousand Chinese factories, big and little, have been destroyed. tens of thousands of shops and houses burned and wrecked, and maar foreign owners have lost their all.