April 2, 2011
To the Editor,
Here is outline of what really happened, but no one ever brings out these facts.
The Holy land, or Tran Jordan as it was known up until the beginning of he British Mandate, was a sparsely populated area in the Syrian Province of the Ottoman Empire up until the Crimean War in the middle of the 19th century.
The Napoleon invasion in 1799 was the beginning of the rediscovery of the Holy land after the long middle ages period, but the major change came following the Crimean War (1853-56), when as a reward for the assistance given by the European countries, the Ottoman Government relaxed restrictions on travel and granted concessions to its European allies.
A Thomas Cook report on the Holy land from 1869, describe the area as largely depopulated, with concentrations of Jewish population in Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberius and Safed.
The European Governments established Consulates etc. and the Churches established hospitals and schools. Together with this the Templers established came and established the first agro industries and Jewish immigrants established industries and commerce. Pilgrimage tourism was also renewed.
The influx of Europeans brought the beginning of the first cash economy into the region. This attracted Arab workers from surrounding countries. The Arabs were taught trades, by the Templers and the Jews and were educated by the Church schools. This Arab mixture thus became different from the Arabs in the surrounding countries of the Middle East and it can be said that the Christians and Jews created the Palestinians.
MAX Z.BLANKSTEIN,
ECONOMIC AND PLANNING CONSULTANT,
JERUSALEM (FORMER WINNIPEGGER)
