Harry Luke

“ Certainly the Moslems were not greatly superior in point of numbers. During one phase of the struggle the Greeks appear to have been within sight of victory. But the composite character of their army was a disadvantage. Their leaders were at variance and perhaps their full force was not employed. Although most of the Arabs fought on foot they had a distinguished cavalry leader (Khalid ibn Walid) , who seems to have dealt the decisive blow. A sand-storm blowing in the faces of the Greeks may have turned the scale against them (20th August, 636) .
After this battle Heraclius abandoned Syria. ”

“ South of Hebron the range becomes lower and finally loses itself in the desert. On the western side of the watershed the plateau of Judaea extends about half- way to the sea, broken by deep valleys. On the east side it descends abruptly within 20 miles from a maximum of over 3,000 feet above sea-level to 1,300 feet below sea-level to the Lower Jordan and the Dead Sea. The slopes are mere rocky wastes, almost without vegetation and water, inhabited only by a few Beduin and hermits. ”

“ The Idumaeans or Edomites established themselves in South Judaea and Hebron. The Nabataeans, an Arabian tribe which settled at Petra about 300 B.C., supplanted the Edomites in the south-east of Palestine. They conquered the territory of Moab and Ammon, and even penetrated farther north. The central districts were colonized by Cuthaeans, from whom, and also from the remains of the earlier population, descended the Samaritans, who erected a sanctuary of their own on Mount Gerizim. ”

“ As the Byzantine Empire grew weaker, the raids of these Arabs into Palestine became more frequent. Finally they took the definite shape of deliberate conquest. The invasion began in the south of Palestine, where the local Governor, Sergius, operating from Caesarea, was defeated early in 634. This Arab victory was followed up by another in the same year, when Theodore, the brother of Heraclius, was defeated in the Wadi al-Sant. Further victories were won by the Arabs in 635, and in September of that year Damascus surrendered. ”

“ In 6 A.D. the territory of Archelaus was added to the Roman pro- vince of Syria, but was governed by procurators of its own. The power of the native princes, such as Agrippa I., who was the last prince to unite the whole of Herod's kingdom under one monarch, and Agrippa II., whose share of Jewish territory was, strictly speaking, confined to a few towns in Galilee, became merely nominal as that of the Roman governors increased. At length, in consequence of the maladministration of Gessius Florus, a national insurrection broke out with great violence. ”

“ His reign seems also to have seen the beginning of the Israelites' successful adoption of the richer culture of the Canaanites and other neighbouring nations. Intercourse with the neighbouring nations, especially with Egypt, became more active. After a brief period of prosperity, however, the decline of the empire began. Damascus threw off the yoke of the Israelites, Edom revolted, and dissensions sprang up in the interior. On the death of Solomon the kingdom fell into two parts : Judah to the south and Israel to the north. ”

“ The Macedonian Supremacy began in 332, but after Alexander's death Palestine became the scene of the wars between the ' Diadochi,' as his successors werQ called. Greek culture soon made rapid progress in Syria, as is evidenced by the ruins of Graeco-Roman theatres, the relics of temples, the inscriptions and coins. The Jews adhered steadfastly to their traditions, but, in the third century B.C., the Aramaic language gradually began to supplant the Hebrew. Greek also came into frequent use among the cultured classes, and in Egypt the sacred books were translated into Greek. ”

“ From the earliest period of history Palestine has been inhabited by peoples of Semitic race, who moved from Arabia to Syria and Palestine in a long series of immigrations. The Canaanitish immigration is the oldest of which we know with certainty, its earliest w^ave including the Phoenicians, who penetrated farthest to the west. Following the example of the Old Testament, we are accustomed to call the tribes who settled to the west of the Jordan by the collective name of Canaanites, though they are probably more correctly specified by the older biblical writers as Amorites. ”

“ By the middle or end of the ninth century Palestine and Syria stand once more apart in their accustomed relation to Egypt on the south and to the rulers of Mesopotamia on the north-east. In 969 the Fatimite Khalifs began to rule over Egypt and soon conquered Syria and Palestine. In the eleventh century they were followed by the Seljuq Turks. In the latter half of the tenth century, however, the Byzan- tine Emperors had undertaken no fewer than four invasions of Syria and Northern Palestine (in 975 the Emperor John Zimisces actually reached Tiberias and Acre) ”

“ Zionism is the movement for the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People. As a tnovement of return it may be said to date from the destruction of the national existence of the Jews in Palestine by the Romans in the second century A.D. Since that time the ideal has been tenaciously pre- served by Jews throughout the world. ”

“ In 15 16 war broke out between the Mamelukes and the Ottoman Turks ; and by 15 17 Egypt, Syria and Palestine were in the hands of the latter.
Palestine under the Turks. — The sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries are on the whole unimportant in the history of Palestine, although it may here be noted that the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in their present form in 1542 by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Two men alone emerge from an obscure multitude of Pashas and Beys. ”

“ GEOGRAPHY AND SCENERY 5
difficult, as the feet have too great a tendency to rise to the surface. Fish cannot hve in Dead Sea water, which, indeed, destroys practically all organic life.
The Jordan Valley itself seldom exceeds 3 miles in width until it reaches Jericho and the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. It is highly fertile, and across it the Jordan winds with unending sinuosities.
Harbours and Rivers. — The principal ports of Palestine are, beginning in the north. Acre, Haifa, Jaffa and Gaza, which will be described from the commercial point of view in another part of this Handbook. ”

“ THE BRITISH MANDATE 25
any of you should be alarmed by reason of your experience at the hands of the enemy who has retired, I hereby inform you that it is my desire that every person should pursue his lawful business without fear of interruption. ”

“ The early Crusaders weakened their strength by repeated and futile attempts to capture Damascus. Here they were opposed by the powerful
Assizes of Jerusalem, i., 22.
THE CRUSADES 17
Emir Zanki (1127-40) ; and the second conquest of Edessa by his son Nur al-Din (1146-74) gave rise to the Second Crusade (1147-49) . It was in the reign of Nur al-Din that there came to the fore the famous Salah al-Din, better known in the West as Saladin. Saladin, who was the grandson of a 'Kurd named Shadi ibn Merwan and nephew of Nur al-Din's general Shirkuh, soon made himself master of Egypt ”

“ Jerusalem was captured by Titus in 70 a. d., and the Temple was destroyed. Under the leadership of Simon, surnamed Bar Cochba (' son of the star ') , there was a final revolt against the foreign yoke. After a struggle lasting for three and a half years (132-135) , the insurrection was quelled and the last remnant of the Jewish kingdom destroyed. Jerusalem became a Roman colony under the name of ^Elia Capitolina, and the Jews were denied access to their ancient capital.^
§ 4. ”

“ The unaccustomed interval of peace which the country was enjoying caused many Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land in emulation of the Empress Helena, and the country was soon thickly covered with Christian religious establishments. ”

“ The Civil Administration, 1st July, 1920.— The Military Administration (Occupied Enemy Territory Administration) terminated on the 30th June, 1920, and on the ist July the Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, P.C., G.B.E., assumed office as His Majesty's High Commissioner for Palestine, and a Civil Administration was set up. In October, 1920, there was constituted an Advisory Council, consisting of 10 unofficial members nominated by the High Commissioner (4 Moslems, 3 Christians, 3 Jews) and of 10 official members. ”

“ The Huleh basin and all the Lake of Tiberias are thus within the borders of Palestine.
The area of Palestine according to the Turkish admini- strative divisions was 13,724 square miles. The area of Palestine under British administration, excluding Trans- jordania, is something over 9,000 square miles, with an
2 THE HANDBOOK OF PALESTINE
estimated population (1922) of about 754,500. Of these about 583,000 are Moslems, 84,500 Christians, and 79,300 Jews. ”

“ Heraclius now made his one great effort to save Syria. In the summer of 636 an army of imperial mercenaries and Armenians and Arabs (drawn from the settled tribes of Syria) advanced through the Biqa' and past Baniyas and across the Jordan, south of Lake Huleh. They cut the communication between Damascus and Arabia. But the Arabs had already aban- doned Damascus and had taken their position on a strong line of defence, just south of the River Yarmuk. The opposing armies^seem to have faced one another on opposite
14 THE HANDBOOK OF PALESTINE
sides of the Yarmuk for some weeks. ”