THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE

New Zealand Tablet, 30 January 1919, Page 11

THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE

(An interview with Col. Sir Mark Sykes, Bart. M.P.) The newsboys along Whitehall were going by, shouting out the latest reports of the driving out of the Turk from the Holy Land. In a cavernous room, somewhere amid the solemn and interminable corridors of the British House of Commons, Col. Sir Mark Sykes was speaking about the significance of the liberation of Palestine by the British Armies under General Sir Edmund Allenby. "Sir Mark Sykes speaks of the Eastern question from his own personal knowledge. He has travelled extensively in the Turkish Provinces of Asia, and he has served as Honorary Attache at

Constantinople. The results of his travels and experiences are to be found in the seven volumes that appear under his name, all dealing with the Turkish dominance in the East. In the Boer War Sir Mark Sykes served through the entire campaign with the 3rd Battalion of the Yorkshire Militia, and the two blue chevrons on the right cuff of his service tunic are. the outward token that he has served two years overseas with the British Forces in the present war. The Turk had just been cleared out of Nazareth, and was in full flight across the Jordan, and Sir Mark was asked whether the present occupation of the Holy Land by the British Forces could, with any degree of accuracy, be said to be the final achievement of the task the Crusaders set out to accomplish. His answer was emphatic, and negative. The war is not a Crusade, and the Turk has not been driven out because he is an unbeliever, but simply because he is the Turk. “The liberation of Palestine by the British Armies,” Sir Mark said, “has nothing whatever to do with the driving out of one religion, and its displacement by another. What it means, briefly, is that the Holy Land has changed hands in circumstances entirely different to any that have prevailed hitherto. There is, actually, no similarity whatever between the action that has just taken place and the events that happened centuries ago. Palestine has changed hands, that is all! It has changed hands before, but the conditions were entirely different. In the Babylonian times the land was invaded, the Jews were driven into

exile, and when the days of their captivity, were over they were allowed to return. That process of changing hands meant that the nation was driven out from its' fatherland. It changed hands again in GraecoRoman times, when the conquerors established themselves and the people were dispersed. Since that time Palestine has passed from one domination to another. The Byzantines established themselves there, and they gave place to the Arabs. The. Crusaders held it, and from them it passed to the Moslems, who in turn yielded it to the Mameluk, who lost it to the Turk. The process went on. The Turk gave way to the Egyptian, and the Egyptian to the French. ‘‘Sometimes Palestine was taken by one race from another race by one religion from another religion; by one imperial power from another imperial power. But now we have seen happen to Palestine what has never happened before. It has not been conquered, nor has it been invaded, as the term is generally underunderstood. With the free consent erf its whole populationa consent which I may say has been given without a single exception,it has been occupied by the forces of civilisation and liberty in the name of freedom and humanity. And that is why I say that

it is not the final achievement of the Crusades, Nor is the liberation of Palestine an imperialistic victory, nor is it a national triumph; though it has in it something of these things. It is not a victory of one creed over another creed, of one race over another race, nor of one Government over another Government. It is the fulfilment of the Crusades in so far as the essential purposes of the Crusades have been accomplished—that is, that the Holy Places are safe and religious freedom is guaranteed. The clearing out of the Turk from Palestine is a matter of great satisfaction to both Christians and Jews. This satisfaction is equally shared by every Moslem, for each of his holy places is preserved inviolate, and every —that is, a pious bequest made by devout Moslems for charitable purposesis now secure from the rapacious inroads of an alien and corrupt bureaucracy. The 'Arabic language, which is the language of the people, is no longer proscribed in the schools, and the Moslem is now able to plead his cause in court before a judge who understands his language. The Palestine Arab, whether he is a : Christian or a Moslem, now enjoys a freedom that was unknown to him before; his liberty is safeguarded in every way. If Saladin were alive to-day he would

have been found riding at the right hand of General Allenby, like those noble emirs who recently entered Damascus riding in company with the British Forces. The most significant thing about the victory of General Allenby is that it is at once the realisation of the ideal of J udas Maccabaeus, of Khaled the Sword of God, and of Godfroi de Bouillon. The essential things these three great heroes strove for have been realised in this crowning victory of General Allenby. It brings to pass the realisation of the ideals that Palestine should afford not only a national home for the Jewish jieople, but also a spiritual focus for the Hebrew national ideal. Another result of the clearing of the enemy from Palestine will be that the way is open for the spread of the Arabic civilisation, which in ancient times radiated science, art, and .literature from its capital at Damascus, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Wall of China. Christendom sees in the event a for those elements which were represented by the orthodoxy of Heraklaeus, the enthusiasm of St. Bernard, and the devotion to the gospel of Wicliffe and-John Bunyan. The Englishman feels a national pride when he considers that the great event has been brought to pass by an Englishman, with the consent

and approval and co-operation of every, one of our Allies, on behalf of the whole of mankind. The Irishman, too, has his share in the pride of this achievement, when he learns that the keystone in the arch of Turkish resistance was broken by the infantry corps under the command of that gallant Catholic Irishman, Major-General Bulfin, who might have been seen kneeling at the midnight Mass in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem last Christmas, the first Christmas since 1186 when the Christian soldier, armed and spurred, stood a conqueror on the threshold of that ancient and holy place. There are some people who see- in the events of our times the fulfilment of prophecy. For them there is this amazing consideration. On September 28 of this year a battle was fought on the Field .of Armageddon. Those who took part in this battle were Jews, Arabs, Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotsmen Frenchmen, Italians, Indians, Egyptians and Armenians, negroes from the British West Indies and South Africa. There were South Africans, Australians, and New Zealanders—all arrayed against Germans, Austrians, and the Turk. The great war is not won yet, though its end comes more and more in sight as the days pass.