§ LORD SYDENHAM rose to ask His Majesty's Government—
- 1. When the Report and evidence on the Jaffa Riots will be presented to Parliament.
- 2. Whether the High Commissioner in Palestine has ordered the sale of the lands of the Orthodox Greek Church; whether the Advisory Council and the Authorities of that Church have acquiesced in these proceedings and whether the blocks for sale are so arranged that they can be purchased only by the Zionist organisation without competition.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, I have twice in this House pressed the Government to give the Report of General Palin's Committee on the riots in Jerusalem at Easter of last year. On the second occasion the Government said that the High Commissioner, who had not taken office when the riots occurred, considered that the publication of this Report would be prejudicial to the interests of the public. The natural inference from all that was that the Report was unfavourable to the Zionists who, we know, had secretly imported arms.
§ But the result of withholding the Report is most unfortunate. The Zionist executive made its own report to the Twelfth Zionist Congress at Carlsbad, and that report is full of what Mr. Churchill once called terminological inexactitudes. I think that a stronger word than that would be justified in this case. The Government, by holding back certain facts which were then in their possession, have, I believe, done a great injustice to the Palestinians, who stand accused of a rather stupid and wanton pogrom on that occasion. I am afraid it is too late to implore the Government to rectify this injustice, but I can assure them that by doing so, even at this late hour, they would, in fact, be righting a wrong. The Secretary of State very kindly informed me privately that the Report on the Jaffa riots of May last will be presented in a few days, so that that part of my Question is already answered, but I should like to press for the evidence in addition to the Report, for the reason that I have the evidence of a Jewish lieutenant-colonel, who was not sure whether he had been demobilised or not, but appeared to belong to 130 the Defence Force paid for out of the taxation of the Palestinians, and this piece of evidence is so amazing that I think it; is desirable that the whole of the evidence should be published.
§ Turning to my second Question, your Lordships know that tie Orthodox Church in these days has fallen upon very evil times. Its claims in regard to the Holy Places at Jerusalem were among the causes which led to the Crimean War, and if Russia had not been destroyed it would have been perfectly impossible for the proceedings of which I complain to take place. The Palestine branch of this Church is now in debt, I understand heavily in debt, but its property is worth far more than its debts, if it could be realised at its proper value. It owns valuable land in Rumania, which. I understand, was confiscated by the Rumanian Government. I do not know whether any protest or claims have been lodged. The land now offered for sale at Jerusalem must be worth many times more than the whole debt which this Church owes, understand that the High Commissioner appointed a Committee to look into the circumstances, and that this Committee recommended that there should be liquidation, subject to certain conditions which it laid down at the time. A Receiving Committee has therefore Leen appointed, and I am told that it is violating some essential points of the conditions which the Advisory Committee laid clown in the first instance
§ The Orthodox Church in Palestine is therefore being forced into bankruptcy, and also to a forced sale which must be most disastrous to its prospects. I have in my hand the official notification of the plots of land which are to 'he offered for sale, and it is a very remarkable notification. There are, in all, sixteen lots, and of these the first lot consists of six properties embracing 457,000 square metres. These properties are not contiguous to each other, but they are all quite close to the City of Jerusalem. Lot 6 contains 72,000 square metres, which lie just outside the walls. There are other large areas in the same sort of position. If Palestine is ever relieved from the blight which now hangs over it, and if ever the pledges which were given through Lord Allenby are fulfilled, this land will in time become of enormous value. The lots are so arranged however, and especially Lot 1, which, as I have 131 said, is arbitrarily grouped, that it is quite beyond the power of any Palestinians to purchase any of these lots. We must remember that the Palestinians have been impoverished by the war, and that they gave many thousands of lives in the cause of the Empire.
§ These lots may conceivably be bought up at knock-down prices by the great Zionist syndicates, financed from foreign sources, which syndicates, at no very distant date, may reap enormous profits. This land is not strictlyWakfland, but it was treated as Wakfland in the time of the Turks. The Liquidating Committee has powers to sell what is reallyWakfland belonging to the Church, and any one who knows the East understands the violent feelings to which such proceedings give rise. To sell Wakfland would directly violate Article 9 of the Mandate for Palestine, and I am not at all sure that this sale does not violate at least the spirit of the Mandate, which, as we all know, is not at present in force. As an ignorant layman I cannot posssibly adjudicate the rights of the Patriarchate of the Holy Synod under Turkish law, which. I believe, still rules in Palestine, but I am nearly certain that if my noble friend, Lord Parmoor, who knows all about the intricacies of Ecclesiastical Law, were to look into this matter and have all the facts at his disposal, he would find that these sales are really illegal. In any case, very strong feeling has already been aroused among the Arabs and Christians in Palestine, by what I regard as, at least, very unwise proceedings.
§
The Orthodox Church community has sent this telegram to the Palestine Arab Delegation now in London—
under Ordinance No in dated September 1st, 1921. Government appointed Commission consisting of officials and representatives of Patriarchate and Government nominee on behalf of community. Commission to liquidate Patriarchate's debts. Protest first against ordinance, second against body being -neither representative nor responsible to community, third Commission proposed sale large plots valuable urban lands impossible for individual Palestinians to purchase, leaving Zionists sole prospective purchasers at the price they fix.
§ That gives some idea of the feelings of the Orthodox body in Palestine. We have this very remarkable spectacle, that a Christian community asks Moslems to plead its case with a Christian Government I should think that has never happened before in our history. It is only in this House that we can raise questions of this nature at the present time. What is going on in 132 Palestine now, and the danger of the situation as it appears to me, is unknown either to the public or to Parliament, under the authority of which, in my opinion, injustice is being committed against the Palestinians.
§ The Orthodox Church in Russia has been martyred by the Bolshevist Jews, who have done their best to root out Christianity throughout the land. They have failed to destroy the faith of the masses, and it is my strong belief that that Church is destined to play a great part in the restoration of Russia. Meanwhile, we are making it easy for the Zionists to acquire the property of the Church and become the owners of the most valuable suburban land around Jerusalem. I noticed that in the proceedings of the recent Church Congress it was stated that we were very near to a rapprochementwith the Orthodox Church. I think it was stated that it might be accomplished within a few months. I think, therefore, that the Episcopal Bench might take some interest in the needs of their sister church, and the most rev. Primate has told me that he would have been in his place to-day to support me if it had not been for other engagements In conclusion, I feel that I must warn the Government that there may be trouble in Palestine. Although Palestine was by far the easiest country of all our new acquisitions to govern, it may be, before long, that the Government will find itself called upon to use the force of arms against people who are only craving the fulfilment of their own pledges. I beg to put my Questions.
§ LORD PARMOORMy Lords, before an answer is given perhaps I might add one or two words to what the noble Lord has said. I must entirely disclaim the knowledge which he attributed to me regarding the legal matters involved, but what I should like to make clear, as regards the information which I think necessary and to which the noble Lord referred, is that we should know, in the first place, what is the authority under which the High Commissioner in Palestine has ordered the sale of the land of the Orthodox Greek Church That is, of course, a matter which cannot be done without authority. What is the special authority? If it is a special authority, what are the circumstances which have given rise to putting that authority in force against the Orthodox Greek Church? I was not present at 133 the Congress to which the noble Lord has referred, but no doubt there has been considerable rapprochement between the Anglican Church in this country and the Orthodox Greek Church abroad.
Secondly, while I listened to what the noble Lord said I was anxious that the noble Duke opposite, who is going to answer, should tell us whether it is true that these proceedings have been advised by the Advisory Council, or is the suggestion true which the noble Lord has made, that the opinion of the Advisory Council has been over-ruled by some other body or authority, by whom the actual sale has been ordered. I am only emphasising the point in order that we may arrive at the true facts before coming to a conclusion. Again, as regards the acquiescence of the Church authorities, is there any power to sell or take their property against their expressed opposition? If so, it would be a very curious authority. It would be an authority out of accordance with the present law of civilised countries, and particularly those countries which believe in proprietory rights as against mere communistic principles.
The last portion of the Question seems to me to demand being cleared up. If you are to take the property of the Orthodox Greek Church, surely it ought to be disposed of under such conditions that you would get the maximum market from the largest number of possible purchasers, whereas the noble Lord has suggested that the plots were so laid out as to exclude all purchasers except those who are forwarding the Zionist movement. I think those are matters which will have to be cleared up.
TEE DUKE OF SUTHERLANDMy Lords, the first Question that Lord Sydenham has asked in regard to the Report and evidence in the Jaffa riots is, I think, a matter that has been dealt with by private letter, and I understand that he is quite content to wait until the Report will be published in a few days, when the matter ear again be raised.
In regard to the second Question which has been raised by the noble Lord, and those asked by Lord Parmoor, I think I can more or less clear up the situation, so far as it is in th.4 power of the Government to show what the situation really is, and what is being done in the matter. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the 134 most venerable and dignified historic institution for which the new Government of Palestine has become responsible. The Bishopric of Jerusalem, in fact, upon which this Patriarchate is founded, goes back to James, the Lord's brother, in the days of the Apostles. Its governing body at the present day is the Patriarch in Synod. Unfortunately, at the time when the civil Government of Palestine was formed, it found the affairs of the Patriarchate in considerable confusion. In the first place, a great schism had occurred between the Patriarch and the majority of the Synod, with the effect that the activities of the Patriarchate were more or less completely paralysed; and, in the second place, the Patriarchate was found to be deeply, and in fact almost hopelessly, in debt.
The immediate problem was solved by declaring amoratoriumin favour of the Patriarchate, which was, in fact., to all intents and purposes a declaration of bankruptcy. Shortly afterwards, in January of this year, the High Commissioner appointed a Commission of Inquiry to inquire into and report on the controversy between the Patriarch and his Synod, and also the question of the debts. As members of the Commission the High Commissioner was fortunate enough to obtain the services of Sir Anton Bertram, the Chief Justice of Ceylon, and Mr. Luke, the Assistant Governor of the Jerusalem district, both of whom, in the course of their earlier service in Cyprus, had studied and become familiar with the intricacies of the organisation of the Orthodox Church in connection with the various disputes in the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Cyprus. To assist them in their labours various members of the Orthodox Church were appointed as assessors.
These gentlemen have prod led a Report so learned, and so interesting to the student of the Eastern Churches, that the Secretary of State for the Colonies has agreed to its being published for the Government of Palestine by the Clarendon Press. It Will appear in about a month's time, and l would strongly urge the noble Lord, who has shown in his speech how deep is his interest in this most venerable Church, to purchase a copy and read in it a much fuller and more interesting account than I can give to-day of the various circumstances which have led up to the crisis in its affairs to which he has called attention.
135 With the main subject of that Report, the dissensions between the Patriarch and Synod, which are now happily well on the way to settlement, we are not to-day concerned. I must, however, trouble your Lordships with a somewhat lengthy account of the financial difficulties. The Patriarchate has for many years supported a number of monasteries, charitable institutions and schools in all parts of the Near East. To meet the necessary expenditure on these various activities it has always relied on the offerings of the faithful, especially the pilgrims visiting Jerusalem, and on the income derived from the vast properties bestowed on it by the devout in past ages.
The Comptroller of Customs in Palestine, who made a close and exhaustive study of the finances of the Patriarchate, and produced a Report, which is being printed as an appendix to the Report of the Commission, has calculated that in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of the great war about 64 per cent. of its total income was derived from Russia, whether as offerings from the faithful or as income from its large properties. No income from this source has reached Palestine since 1914, and as expenses in that country have increased, in very much the same way that is unfortunately only too familiar to us in this country, it is hardly' surprising that the Patriarchate has entirely failed to make its budget maintain a state of equilibrium. Moreover, it must be remembered that there are no men with any kind of business training on the Synod; all its members are holy men, monks of the most ancient Confraternity of the Holy Sepulchre; and it is, in fact, some considerable time since the Patriarchate has been free from financial difficulties.
A sort of crisis occurred as long ago as 1904, when tile Patriarchate was in debt to the tune of some £ 150,000 In that year an extremely capable Greek business man was asked to put its finances in order. He spent some two years in Jerusalem, and succeeded in producing order out of chaos, and evolving a scheme for the liquidation of the debt Some of his recommendations were carried out and in 1906 the situation was temporarily eased by the sale, for a sum of £ 45,000 odd, of a large estate in the Bukovina. I mention this fact to show your Lordships that the sale of its landed property is not, as has been suggested in some quarters, an entirely 136 unheard of event in the history of the Patriarchate.
It goes without saying that it was not very long before the reforms introduced by this gentleman became a dead letter. By the outbreak of the war the debt had risen to £ 220,000, and by the beginning of this year, when the Commission came on the scene, to the enormous figure of £ 550,000. To meet this debt the Patriarchate had no liquid assets whatever, and even with the most strenuous economy the budget showed an annual deficit of between £ 30,000 and £ 40,000. It was obvious that the situation demanded drastic measures, and this fact was freely admitted by the Patriarch himself freely measures which were recommended by the Commission were embodied in an Ordinance which was placed by the High Commissioner before the Advisory Council, agreed to by them and submitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who has approved it.
This Ordinance removes from the Patriarchate all control of financial matters and vests it in a Commission, acting, so to speak, as receivers in bankruptcy. The Commission, as at present constituted, consists of two British officers of the Palestine Government, both, of course, Christians, a local non-official nominated by the High Commissioner, a representative of the Patriarchate and a representative of the lay community. The Commission is in complete control of the property and finances of the Patriarchate, but in certain matters, such as any sale of land, it can only act in pursuance of a general authorisation of the Patriarch in Synod. When the sale is one of property within the walls of Jerusalem or of lands attachedab antiquoto any monastery and also in some other special cases, the consent of the Patriarch in Synod to the specific transaction is also necessary. This is definitely provided by the Ordinance.
The Ordinance, it is true; does introduce one novelty, in that it permits the Commission to sell land belonging to the Patriarchate situated within the confines of the late Turkish Empire. By the peculiar system prevalent within that Empire all property of religious communities, whether Moslem or not, was subject to the complicated and very rigid conditions of Moslem religious law— to put it technically, all such properties were treated asWakfBy the provisions of that law noWakfproperty can be sold; it can 137 only be leased, and that for a period not exceeding three years, or exchanged for a similar property of equal value elsewhere. Now that Palestine is no longer under Moslem rule, there seemed no particular reason for adding to the difficulties of the Patriarchate by continuing to subject part of its properties to the provisions of Moslem law.
As it was obvious that some sale of land would be necessary, the Commission made a careful survey of the various properties of the Patriarchate. It discovered that these properties had been in its possession for very varying periods. Sonic parts, for instance, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, had been in its possession from time immemorial; others, on the other hand, had been acquired quite recently, either by purchase or by inheritance from deceased brethren whose estates by the rule of the Order all descend to the Patriarchate. Apart from the estates outside Palestine there are no less than 631 individual properties within Palestine itself, the most immediately saleable being a quantity of suburban property round Jerusalem at present undeveloped. All this is of recent acquisition. Two generations ago, except for the central shrines and some other monasteries and small properties the Patriarchate possessed no land in Palestine. In about 1863, when the kingdom of Rumania was severed from the Turkish Empire, the extensive and valuable domains of the Patriarchate in that country were confiscated by its new Christian Government, and the Patriarch and brethren, thinking it wiser to have their property nearer home, commenced to purchase suburban lands near Jerusalem which were at that time very cheap.
I have no doubt that it is some of these lands which have no historic associations with the Patriarchate that are now being sold The arrangements and conditions of sale have no doubt been drawn up by the Commission of Financial Control, and I can confidently assure the noble Lord that they will be drawn up with but one end in view, that of obtaining the maximum price for them The sales will, of course, be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Land Transfer Ordinance, which was drawn up by the Government of Palestine and approved by the noble Marquess the Leader of the House at a time when Palestine was under the control of the Foreign Office.
138 The provisions of that Ordinance have been somewhat misrepresented. it has been said that by its provisions all except properties of trifling value can only be sold to an organization and not to an individual. That is not the case. The actual facts are that, in order to prevent the land speculation which is so likely to occur in a country which, like Palestine, is undergoing a process of intensive development, it is provided in the Ordinance that no transfer of any property of a value of more than £ 3,000 can take place without the consent of the High Commissioner, This applies equally to land purchased by the Zionist organization and any other company or individual. The High Commissioner will obviously not exercise his right of veto in this case, where the sale is urgently necessary in the interests of the finances of the Patriarchate.
The noble Lord will find in the Report of the Commission a fuller explanation than I have been able to give him of the circumstances which have led the Commissioners to believe that the sale of these lands is the step best calculated to meet the most pressing obligations of the Patriarchate, but I trust that I have said enough to satisfy both noble Lords that the apprehensions which they have voiced arc groundless.
§ LORD SYDENHAMMy Lords, I beg to thank the noble Duke for his answer. I must get the document to which he referred; I am sure I shall read it with intense interest. The noble Duke did not say whether it would be possible, for the reasons I advanced, to give the evidence in the case of the Jaffa riots, and am I quite clear that the Advisory Council (which is a nominated body) did agree to the promulgation of this Ordinance? The only other point on which he has not made me quite clear is why these large plots are selected. Why could not they have been small plots which small people might -have had a chance of being able to purchase? Also, can the noble Duke say whether the land will be valued so that it may not go for a knock-down price, and whether it will be valued by skilled valuers with an eye to its very large prospective value?
THE DUKE OF SUTHERLANDMy Lords, I can reply to one of the main points which the noble Lord raises. The land is being sold in these large plots 139 because the object is to get the best price possible, and to sell to people who will develop them in the future and spend the money needed upon them. I do not think it is likely that a number of small people would be able to develop them in the way that is required. Further, the object is to get the largest amount for the Patriarchate, and, in order to achieve that, it is found better to sell in the size at which the plots are now allotted rather than to sell in smaller plots.