How Jerusalem Was Won: Being the Record of Allenby's Campaign in PalestineMassey, W. T. (William Thomas)
History
How Jerusalem Was Won: Being the Record of Allenby's Campaign in Palestine
Massey, W. T. (William Thomas)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Palestine
The procession came to a halt at the steps of El Kala, the Citadel,
which visitors to Jerusalem will better remember as the entrance to
David's Tower. Here the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff formed up on
the steps with the notables of the City behind them, to listen to the
reading of the Proclamation in several languages. That Proclamation,
telling the people they could pursue their lawful business without
interruption and promising that every sacred building, monument, holy
spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary
place of prayer of whatsoever form of three of the great religions
of mankind would be maintained and protected according to existing
customs and beliefs to those to whose faiths they are sacred, made
a deep impression on the populace. So you could judge from the
expressions on faces and the frequent murmurs of approval, and it was
interesting to note how, when the procession was being re-formed, many
Christians, Jews, and Moslems broke away from the crowd to run and
spread the good news in their respective quarters. How faithfully and
with what scrupulous care our promises have been kept the religious
communities of Jerusalem can tell.
The procession next moved into the old Turkish barrack square less
than a hundred yards away, where General Allenby received the notables
of the City and the heads of religious communities. The Mayor of
Jerusalem, who unfortunately died of pneumonia a fortnight later, and
the Mufti, who, like the Mayor, was a member of a Mahomedan family
which traces its descent back through many centuries, were presented,
as were also the sheikhs in charge of the Mosque of Omar, 'the Tomb
of the Rock,' and the Mosque of El Aksa, and Moslems belonging to the
Khaldieh and Alamieh families. The Patriarchs of the Latin, Greek
Orthodox, and Armenian Churches and the Coptic bishop had been removed
from the Holy City by the Turks, but their representatives were
introduced to the Commander-in-Chief, and so too were the heads of
Jewish communities, the Syriac Church, the Greek Catholic Church, the
Abyssinian bishop, and the representative of the Anglican Church. A
notable presentation was the Spanish Consul, who had been in charge of
the interests of almost all countries at war, and whom General Allenby
congratulated upon being so busy a man. The presentations over, the
Commander-in-Chief returned to the Jaffa Gate and left for advanced
General Headquarters, having been in the Holy City not more than a
quarter of an hour.
For succinctness it would be difficult to improve upon the
Commander-in-Chief's own description of his Official Entry into
Jerusalem. Cabling to London within two hours of that event, General
Allenby thus narrated the events of the day:
(1) At noon to-day I officially entered this City with a few of my
Staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads
of the Picot Mission, and the Military Attachés of France, Italy, and
the United States of America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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