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+Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: With the Turks in Palestine
+
+Author: Alexander Aaronsohn
+
+Release Date: November 30, 2003 [EBook #10338]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Steven desJardins and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+WITH THE TURKS IN
+PALESTINE
+
+BY
+
+ALEXANDER AARONSOHN
+
+
+
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: DJEMAL PASHA]
+
+1916
+
+TO MY MOTHER
+
+WHO LIVED AND FOUGHT AND DIED
+FOR A REGENERATED
+PALESTINE
+
+
+   _What have I done, or tried, or said
+    In thanks to that dear woman dead_?
+
+MASEFIELD
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+To the editors of the _Atlantic Monthly_,
+to the publishers, and to the many
+friends who have encouraged me, I
+am and shall ever remain grateful
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+       INTRODUCTION
+
+    I. ZICRON-JACOB
+
+   II. PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE
+
+  III. THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA
+
+   IV. ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE
+
+    V. THE HIDDEN ARMS
+
+   VI. THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN
+
+  VII. FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS
+
+ VIII. THE LEBANON
+
+   IX. A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE
+
+    X. A RASH ADVENTURE
+
+   XI. ESCAPE
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+DJEMAL PASHA
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+SAFFÊD
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, in March, 1911_
+
+SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA
+
+NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN,
+ IN ZICRON-JACOB
+
+IN A NATIVE CAFÉ, SAFFÊD
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+CAMELS BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+HAIFA
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM
+MOUNT CARMEL
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA
+  _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR
+  _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald in March, 1914_
+
+BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and dreams of
+liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little
+country the soul of which is torn to pieces--a little country that is so
+remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard.
+
+It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw Abraham
+build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the
+country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and
+loveliness,--a land of promise never to be attained,--the country that
+gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit. Palestine!
+
+No war correspondents, no Red Cross or relief committees have gone to
+Palestine, because no actual fighting has taken place there, and yet
+hundreds of thousands are suffering there that worst of agonies, the
+agony of the spirit.
+
+Those who have devoted their lives to show the world that Palestine can
+be made again a country flowing with milk and honey, those who have
+dreamed of reviving the spirit of the prophets and the great teachers,
+are hanged and persecuted and exiled, their dreams shattered, their holy
+places profaned, their work ruined. Cut off from the world, with no
+bread to sustain the starving body, the heavy boot of a barbarian
+soldiery trampling their very soul, the dreamers of Palestine refuse to
+surrender, and amidst the clash of guns and swords they are battling for
+the spirit with the weapons of the spirit.
+
+The time has not yet come to write the record of these battles, nor even
+to attempt to render justice to the sublime heroes of Palestine. This
+book is merely the story of some of the personal experiences of one who
+has done less and suffered less than thousands of his comrades.
+
+ALEXANDER AARONSOHN
+
+
+
+
+WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ZICRON-JACOB
+
+
+Thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been organized as the
+Zionist Movement led my parents to leave their homes in Roumania and
+emigrate to Palestine, where they joined a number of other Jewish
+pioneers in founding Zicron-Jacob--a little village lying just south of
+Mount Carmel, in that fertile coastal region close to the ancient Plains
+of Armageddon.
+
+Here I was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and harmony
+of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed stone houses
+huddled close together for protection against the native Arabs who, at
+first, menaced the life of the new colony. The village was far more
+suggestive of Switzerland than of the conventional slovenly villages of
+the East, mud-built and filthy; for while it was the purpose of our
+people, in returning to the Holy Land, to foster the Jewish language and
+the social conditions of the Old Testament as far as possible, there
+was nothing retrograde in this movement. No time was lost in introducing
+progressive methods of agriculture, and the climatological experiments
+of other countries were observed and made use of in developing the ample
+natural resources of the land.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE CEMETERY OF ZICRON-JACOB]
+
+Eucalyptus, imported from Australia, soon gave the shade of its cool,
+healthful foliage where previously no trees had grown. In the course of
+time dry farming (which some people consider a recent discovery, but
+which in reality is as old as the Old Testament) was introduced and
+extended with American agricultural implements; blooded cattle were
+imported, and poultry-raising on a large scale was undertaken with the
+aid of incubators--to the disgust of the Arabs, who look on such
+usurpation of the hen's functions as against nature and sinful. Our
+people replaced the wretched native trails with good roads, bordered by
+hedges of thorny acacia which, in season, were covered with downy little
+yellow blossoms that smelled sweeter than honey when the sun was on
+them.
+
+More important than all these, a communistic village government was
+established, in which both sexes enjoyed equal rights, including that of
+suffrage--strange as this may seem to persons who (when they think of
+the matter at all) form vague conceptions of all the women-folk of
+Palestine as shut up in harems.
+
+A short experience with Turkish courts and Turkish justice taught our
+people that they would have to establish a legal system of their own;
+two collaborating judges were therefore appointed--one to interpret the
+Mosaic law, another to temper it with modern jurisprudence. All Jewish
+disputes were settled by this court. Its effectiveness may be judged by
+the fact that the Arabs, weary of Turkish venality,--as open and
+shameless as anywhere in the world,--began in increasing numbers to
+bring their difficulties to our tribunal. Jews are law-abiding people,
+and life in those Palestine colonies tended to bring out the fraternal
+qualities of our race; but it is interesting to note that in over thirty
+years not one Jewish criminal case was reported from forty-five
+villages.
+
+Zicron-Jacob was a little town of one hundred and thirty "fires"--so we
+call it--when, in 1910, on the advice of my elder brother, who was head
+of the Jewish Experiment Station at Athlit, an ancient town of the
+Crusaders, I left for America to enter the service of the United States
+in the Department of Agriculture. A few days after reaching this country
+I took out my first naturalization papers and proceeded to Washington,
+where I became part of that great government service whose beneficent
+activity is too little known by Americans. Here I remained until June,
+1913, when I returned to Palestine with the object of taking
+motion-pictures and stereopticon views. These I intended to use in a
+lecturing tour for spreading the Zionist propaganda in the United
+States.
+
+During the years of my residence in America, I was able to appreciate
+and judge in their right value the beauty and inspiration of the life
+which my people led in the Holy Land. From a distance, too, I saw better
+the need for organization among our communities, and I determined to
+build up a fraternal union of the young Jewish men all over the country.
+
+Two months after my return from America, an event occurred which gave
+impetus to these projects. The physician of our village, an old man who
+had devoted his entire life to serving and healing the people of
+Palestine, without distinction of race or religion, was driving home one
+evening in his carriage from a neighboring settlement. With him was a
+young girl of sixteen. In a deserted place they were set upon by four
+armed Arabs, who beat the old man to unconsciousness as he tried, in
+vain, to defend the girl from the terrible fate which awaited her.
+
+Night came on. Alarmed by the absence of the physician, we young men
+rode out in search of him. We finally discovered what had happened; and
+then and there, in the serene moonlight of that Eastern night, with
+tragedy close at hand, I made my comrades take oath on the honor of
+their sisters to organize themselves into a strong society for the
+defense of the life and honor of our villagers and of our people at
+large.
+
+These details are, perhaps, useful for the better understanding of the
+disturbances that came thick and fast when in August, 1914, the
+war-madness broke out among the nations of Europe. The repercussion was
+at once felt even in our remote corner of the earth. Soon after the
+German invasion of Belgium the Turkish army was mobilized and all
+citizens of the Empire between nineteen and forty-five years were called
+to the colors. As the Young Turk Constitution of 1909 provided that all
+Christians and Jews were equally liable to military service, our young
+men knew that they, too, would be called upon to make the common
+sacrifice. For the most part, they were not unwilling to sustain the
+Turkish Government. While the Constitution imposed on them the burden of
+militarism, it had brought with it the compensation of freedom of
+religion and equal rights; and we could not forget that for six hundred
+years Turkey has held her gates wide open to the Jews who fled from the
+Spanish Inquisition and similar ministrations of other civilized
+countries.
+
+Of course, we never dreamed that Turkey would do anything but remain
+neutral. If we had had any idea of the turn things were ultimately to
+take, we should have given a different greeting to the _mouchtar_, or
+sheriff, who came to our village with the list of mobilizable men to be
+called on for service. My own position was a curious one. I had every
+intention of completing the process of becoming an American citizen,
+which I had begun by taking out "first papers." In the eyes of the law,
+however, I was still a Turkish subject, with no claim to American
+protection. This was sneeringly pointed out to me by the American Consul
+at Haifa, who happens to be a German; so there was no other course but
+to surrender myself to the Turkish Government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE
+
+
+There was no question as to my eligibility for service. I was young and
+strong and healthy--and even if I had not been, the physical examination
+of Turkish recruits is a farce. The enlisting officers have a theory of
+their own that no man is really unfit for the army--a theory which has
+been fostered by the ingenious devices of the Arabs to avoid
+conscription. To these wild people the protracted discipline of military
+training is simply a purgatory, and for weeks before the recruiting
+officers are due, they dose themselves with powerful herbs and physics
+and fast, and nurse sores into being, until they are in a really
+deplorable condition. Some of them go so far as to cut off a finger or
+two. The officers, however, have learned to see beyond these little
+tricks, and few Arabs succeed in wriggling through their drag-net. I
+have watched dozens of Arabs being brought in to the recruiting office
+on camels or horses, so weak were they, and welcomed into the service
+with a severe beating--the sick and the shammers sharing the same fate.
+Thus it often happens that some of the new recruits die after their
+first day of garrison life.
+
+Together with twenty of my comrades, I presented myself at the
+recruiting station at Acco (the St. Jean d'Acre of history). We had been
+given to understand that, once our names were registered, we should be
+allowed to return home to provide ourselves with money, suitable
+clothing, and food, as well as to bid our families good-bye. To our
+astonishment, however, we were marched off to the Hân, or caravanserai,
+and locked into the great courtyard with hundreds of dirty Arabs. Hour
+after hour passed; darkness came, and finally we had to stretch
+ourselves on the ground and make the best of a bad situation. It was a
+night of horrors. Few of us had closed an eye when, at dawn, an officer
+appeared and ordered us out of the Hân. From our total number about
+three hundred (including four young men from our village and myself)
+were picked out and told to make ready to start at once for Saffêd, a
+town in the hills of northern Galilee near the Sea of Tiberias, where
+our garrison was to be located. No attention was paid to our requests
+that we be allowed to return to our homes for a final visit. That same
+morning we were on our way to Saffêd--a motley, disgruntled crew.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: SAFFÊD]
+
+It was a four days' march--four days of heat and dust and physical
+suffering. The September sun smote us mercilessly as we straggled along
+the miserable native trail, full of gullies and loose stones. It would
+not have been so bad if we had been adequately shod or clothed; but soon
+we found ourselves envying the ragged Arabs as they trudged along
+barefoot, paying no heed to the jagged flints. (Shoes, to the Arab, are
+articles for ceremonious indoor use; when any serious walking is to be
+done, he takes them off, slings them over his shoulder, and trusts to
+the horny soles of his feet.)
+
+To add to our troubles, the Turkish officers, with characteristic
+fatalism, had made no commissary provision for us whatever. Any food we
+ate had to be purchased by the roadside from our own funds, which were
+scant enough to start with. The Arabs were in a terrible plight. Most of
+them were penniless, and, as the pangs of hunger set in, they began
+pillaging right and left from the little farms by the wayside. From
+modest beginnings--poultry and vegetables--they progressed to larger
+game, unhindered by the officers. Houses were entered, women insulted;
+time and again I saw a stray horse, grazing by the roadside, seized by a
+crowd of grinning Arabs, who piled on the poor beast's back until he was
+almost crushed to earth, and rode off triumphantly, while their comrades
+held back the weeping owner. The result of this sort of
+"requisitioning," was that our band of recruits was followed by an
+increasing throng of farmers--imploring, threatening, trying by hook or
+by crook to win back the stolen goods. Little satisfaction did they get,
+although some of them went with us as far as Saffêd.
+
+Our garrison town is not an inviting place, nor has it an inviting
+reputation. Lord Kitchener himself had good reason to remember it. As a
+young lieutenant of twenty-three, in the Royal Engineering Corps, he was
+nearly killed there by a band of fanatical Arabs while surveying for the
+Palestine Exploration Fund. Kitchener had a narrow escape of it (one of
+his fellow officers was shot dead close by him), but he went calmly
+ahead and completed his maps, splendid large-scale affairs which have
+never since been equaled--and which are now in use by the Turkish and
+German armies! However, though Saffêd combines most of the unpleasant
+characteristics of Palestine native towns, we welcomed the sight of it,
+for we were used up by the march. An old deserted mosque was given us
+for barracks; there, on the bare stone floor, in close-packed
+promiscuity, too tired to react to filth and vermin, we spent our first
+night as soldiers of the Sultan, while the milky moonlight streamed in
+through every chink and aperture, and bats flitted round the vaulting
+above the snoring carcasses of the recruits.
+
+Next morning we were routed out at five. The black depths of the well in
+the center of the mosque courtyard provided doubtful water for washing,
+bathing, and drinking; then came breakfast,--our first government
+meal,--consisting, simply enough, of boiled rice, which was ladled out
+into tin wash-basins holding rations for ten men. In true Eastern
+fashion we squatted down round the basin and dug into the rice with our
+fingers. At first I was rather upset by this sort of table manners, and
+for some time I ate with my eyes fixed on my own portion, to avoid
+seeing the Arabs, who fill the palms of their hands with rice, pat it
+into a ball and cram it into their mouths just so, the bolus making a
+great lump in their lean throats as it reluctantly descends.
+
+In the course of that same morning we were allotted our uniforms. The
+Turkish uniform, under indirect German influence, has been greatly
+modified during the past five years. It is of khaki--a greener khaki
+than that of the British army, and of conventional European cut. Spiral
+puttees and good boots are provided; the only peculiar feature is the
+headgear--a curious, uncouth-looking combination of the turban and the
+German helmet, devised by Enver Pasha to combine religion and
+practicality, and called in his honor _enverieh_. (With commendable
+thrift, Enver patented his invention, and it is rumored that he has
+drawn a comfortable fortune from its sale.) An excellent uniform it is,
+on the whole; but, to our disgust, we found that in the great olive-drab
+pile to which we were led, there was not a single new one. All were old,
+discarded, and dirty, and the mere thought of putting on the clothes of
+some unknown Arab legionary, who, perhaps, had died of cholera at Mecca
+or Yemen, made me shudder. After some indecision, my friends and I
+finally went up to one of the officers and offered to _buy_ new uniforms
+with the money we expected daily from our families. The officer,
+scenting the chance for a little private profit, gave his consent.
+
+The days and weeks following were busy ones. From morning till night, it
+was drill, drill, and again drill. We were divided into groups of fifty,
+each of which was put in charge of a young non-commissioned officer from
+the Military School of Constantinople or Damascus, or of some Arab who
+had seen several years' service. These instructors had a hard time of
+it; the German military system, which had only recently been introduced,
+was too much for them. They kept mixing up the old and the new methods
+of training, with the result that it was often hopeless to try and make
+out their orders. Whole weeks were spent in grinding into the Arabs the
+names of the different parts of the rifle; weeks more went to teaching
+them to clean it--although it must be said that, once they had mastered
+these technicalities, they were excellent shots. Their efficiency would
+have been considerably greater if there had been more target-shooting.
+From the very first, however, we felt that there was a scarcity of
+ammunition. This shortage the drill-masters, in a spirit of
+compensation, attempted to make up by abundant severity. The whip of
+soft, flexible, stinging leather, which seldom leaves the Turkish
+officer's hand, was never idle. This was not surprising, for the Arab is
+a cunning fellow, whose only respect is for brute force. He exercises it
+himself on every possible victim, and expects the same treatment from
+his superiors.
+
+So far as my comrades and I were concerned, I must admit that we were
+generally treated kindly. We knew most of the drill-exercises from the
+gymnastic training we had practiced since childhood, and the officers
+realized that we were educated and came from respectable families. The
+same was also true with regard to the native Christians, most of whom
+can read and write and are of a better class than the Mohammedans of the
+country. When Turkey threw in her lot with the Germanic powers, the
+attitude toward the Jews and Christians changed radically; but of this I
+shall speak later.
+
+It was a hard life we led while in training at Saffêd; evening would
+find us dead tired, and little disposed for anything but rest. As the
+tremendous light-play of the Eastern sunsets faded away, we would gather
+in little groups in the courtyard of our mosque--its minaret towering
+black against a turquoise sky--and talk fitfully of the little
+happenings of the day, while the Arabs murmured gutturally around us.
+Occasionally, one of them would burst into a quavering, hot-blooded
+tribal love-song. It happened that I was fairly well known among these
+natives through my horse Kochba--of pure Maneghi-Sbeli blood--which I
+had purchased from some Anazzi Bedouins who were encamped not far from
+Aleppo: a swift and intelligent animal he was, winner of many races, and
+in a land where a horse is considerably more valuable than a wife, his
+ownership cast quite a glamour over me.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA]
+
+In the evenings, then, the Arabs would come up to chat. As they speak
+seldom of their children, of their women-folk never, the conversation
+was limited to generalities about the crops and the weather, or to the
+recitation of never-ending tales of Abou-Zeid, the famous hero of the
+Beni-Hilal, or of Antar the glorious. Politics, of which they have
+amazing ideas, also came in for discussion. Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen
+Victoria are still living figures to them; but (significantly enough)
+they considered the Kaiser king of all the kings of this world, with the
+exception of the Sultan, whom they admitted to equality.
+
+Seldom did an evening pass without a dance. As darkness fell, the Arabs
+would gather in a great circle around one of their comrades, who
+squatted on the ground with a bamboo flute; to a weird minor music they
+would begin swaying and moving about while some self-chosen poet among
+them would sing impromptu verses to the flute _obbligato_. As a rule the
+themes were homely.
+
+"To-morrow we shall eat rice and meat," the singer would wail.
+
+"_Yaha lili-amali"_ (my endeavor be granted), came the full-throated
+response of all the others. The chorus was tremendously effective.
+Sometimes the singer would indulge in pointed personalities, with
+answering roars of laughter.
+
+These dances lasted for hours, and as they progressed the men gradually
+worked themselves up into a frenzy. I never failed to wonder at these
+people, who, without the aid of alcohol, could reproduce the various
+stages of intoxication. As I lay by and watched the moon riding serenely
+above these frantic men and their twisting black shadows, I reflected
+that they were just in the condition when one word from a holy man would
+suffice to send them off to wholesale murder and rapine.
+
+It was my good fortune soon to be released from the noise and dirt of
+the mosque. I had had experience with corruptible Turkish officers; and
+one day, when barrack conditions became unendurable, I went to the
+officer commanding our division--an old Arab from Latakieh who had been
+called from retirement at the time of the mobilization. He lived in a
+little tent near the mosque, where I found him squatting on the floor,
+nodding drowsily over his comfortable paunch. As he was an officer of
+the old régime, I entered boldly, squatted beside him and told him my
+troubles. The answer came with an enormous shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"You are serving the Sultan. Hardship should be sweet!"
+
+"I should be more fit to serve him if I got more sleep and rest."
+
+He waved a fat hand about the tent.
+
+"Look at me! Here I am, an officer of rank and"--shooting a knowing
+look at me--"I have not even a nice blanket."
+
+"A crime! A crime!" I interrupted. "To think of it, when I, a humble
+soldier, have dozens of them at home! I should be honored if you would
+allow me--" My voice trailed off suggestively.
+
+"How could you get one?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, I have friends here in Saffêd but I _must_ be able to sleep in a
+nice place."
+
+"Of course; certainly. What would you suggest?"
+
+"That hotel kept by the Jewish widow might do," I replied.
+
+More amenities were exchanged, the upshot of which was that my four
+friends and I were given permission to sleep at the inn--a humble place,
+but infinitely better than the mosque. It was all perfectly simple.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA
+
+
+So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the
+fateful December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that
+Turkey was about to join hands with Germany. We had had reports of the
+war--of a kind. Copies of telegrams from Constantinople, printed in
+Arabic, were circulated among us, giving accounts of endless German
+victories. These, however, we had laughed at as fabrications of a
+Prussophile press agency, and in our skepticism we had failed to give
+the Teutons credit for the successes they had actually won. To us, born
+and bred in the East as we were, the success of German propaganda in the
+Turkish Empire could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its
+fullness amazed us.
+
+It may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding this
+propaganda as I have seen it in Palestine, spreading under strong and
+efficient organization for twenty years.
+
+In order to realize her imperialistic dreams, Germany absolutely needed
+Palestine. It was the key to the whole Oriental situation. No mere
+coincidence brought the Kaiser to Damascus in November, 1898,--the same
+month that Kitchener, in London, was hailed as Gordon's avenger,--when
+he uttered his famous phrase at the tomb of Saladin: "Tell the three
+hundred million Moslems of the world that I am their friend!" We have
+all seen photographs of the imperial figure, draped in an amazing
+burnous of his own designing (above which the Prussian _Pickelhaube_
+rises supreme), as he moved from point to point in this portentous
+visit: we may also have seen Caran d'Ache's celebrated cartoon (a
+subject of diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial
+figure, in its Oriental toggery, riding into Jerusalem on an ass.
+
+The nations of Europe laughed at this visit and its transparent purpose,
+but it was all part of the scheme which won for the Germans the
+concessions for the Konia-Bagdad Railway, and made them owners of the
+double valley of the Euphrates and Tigris. Through branch lines
+projected through the firman, they are practically in control of both
+the Syrian routes toward the Cypriotic Mediterranean and the Lebanon
+valleys. They also control the three Armenian routes of Cappadocia, the
+Black Sea, and the trans-Caucasian branch of Urfa, Marach, and Mardine.
+(The fall of Erzerum has altered conditions respecting this last.) They
+dominate the Persian routes toward Tauris and Teheran as well; and last,
+but not least, the Gulf branch of Zobeir. These railways delivered into
+German hands the control of Persia, whence the road to India may be made
+easy: through Syria lies the route to the Suez Canal and Egypt, which
+was used in February, 1915, and will probably be used again this year.
+
+To make this Oriental dream a reality, the Germans have not relied on
+their railway concessions alone. Their Government has done everything in
+its power to encourage German colonization in Palestine. Scattered all
+over the country are German mills that half of the time have nothing to
+grind. German hotels have been opened in places seldom frequented by
+tourists. German engineers appeared in force, surveying, sounding,
+noting. All these colonists held gatherings in the Arab villages, when
+the ignorant natives were told of the greatness of Germany, of her good
+intentions, and of the evil machinations of other powers. What I state
+here can be corroborated by any one who knows Palestine and has lived in
+it.
+
+About the time when we first knew that Turkey would join the Germanic
+powers came the news that the "Capitulations" had been revoked. As is
+generally known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the protection of their
+respective consuls. The Turkish Government, under the terms of the
+so-called Capitulations, or agreements, had no jurisdiction over an
+American, for instance, or a Frenchman, who could not be arrested
+without the consent of his consul. In the Ottoman Empire, where law and
+justice are not at a premium, such protection was a wholesome and
+necessary policy.
+
+The revoking of the Capitulations was a terrible blow to all the
+Europeans, meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their
+rights. Upon the Arabs it acted like an intoxicant. Every boot-black or
+boatman felt that he was the equal of the accursed Frank, who now had no
+consul to protect him; and abuses began immediately. Moreover, as if by
+magic, the whole country became Germanized. In all the mosques, Friday
+prayers were ended with an invocation for the welfare of the Sultan and
+"Hadji Wilhelm." The significance of this lies in the fact that the
+title "Hadji" can be properly applied only to a Moslem who has made the
+pilgrimage to Mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the Kaaba. Instant
+death is the penalty paid by any Christian who is found within that
+enclosure: yet Wilhelm II, head of the Lutheran faith, stepped forward
+as "Hadji Wilhelm." His pictures were sold everywhere; German officers
+appeared; and it seemed as if a wind of brutal mastery were blowing.
+
+The dominant figure of this movement in Palestine was, without doubt,
+the German Consul at Haifa, Leutweld von Hardegg. He traveled about the
+country, making speeches, and distributing pamphlets in Arabic, in which
+it was elaborately proved that Germans are not Christians, like the
+French or English, but that they are descendants of the prophet
+Mohammed. Passages from the Koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of
+the Kaiser as the Savior of Islam.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE
+
+
+The news of the actual declaration of war by Turkey caused a tremendous
+stir in our regiment. The prevailing feeling was one of great
+restlessness and discontent. The Arabs made many bitter remarks against
+Germany. "Why didn't she help us against the Italians during the war for
+Tripoli?" they said. "Now that she is in trouble she is drawing us into
+the fight." Their opinions, however, soon underwent a change. In the
+first place, they came to realize that Turkey had taken up arms against
+Russia; and Russia is considered first and foremost the arch-enemy.
+German reports of German successes also had a powerful effect on them.
+They began to grow boastful, arrogant; and the sight of the plundering
+of Europeans, Jews, and Christians convinced them that a very desirable
+régime was setting in. Saffêd has a large Jewish colony, and it was
+torment for me to have to witness the outrages that my people suffered
+in the name of "requisitioning."
+
+The final blow came one morning when all the Jewish and Christian
+soldiers of our regiment were called out and told that henceforth they
+were to serve in the _taboor amlieh_, or working corps. The object of
+this action, plainly enough, was to conciliate and flatter the
+Mohammedan population, and at the same time to put the Jews and
+Christians, who for the most part favored the cause of the Allies, in a
+position where they would be least dangerous. We were disarmed; our
+uniforms were taken away, and we became hard-driven "gangsters." I shall
+never forget the humiliation of that day when we, who, after all, were
+the best-disciplined troops of the lot, were first herded to our work of
+pushing wheelbarrows and handling spades, by grinning Arabs, rifle on
+shoulder. We were set to building the road between Saffêd and Tiberias,
+on the Sea of Galilee--a link in the military highway from Damascus to
+the coast, which would be used for the movement of troops in case the
+railroad should be cut off. It had no immediate strategic bearing on the
+attack against Suez, however.
+
+From six in the morning till seven at night we were hard at it, except
+for one hour's rest at noon. While we had money, it was possible to get
+some slight relief by bribing our taskmasters; but this soon came to an
+end, and we had to endure their brutality as best we could. The
+wheelbarrows we used were the property of a French company which,
+before the war, was undertaking a highway to Beirut. No grease was
+provided for the wheels, so that there was a maddening squeaking and
+squealing in addition to the difficulty of pushing the barrows. One day
+I suggested to an inspection officer that if the wheels were not greased
+the axles would be burned out. He agreed with me and issued an order
+that the men were to provide their own oil to lubricate the wheels!
+
+I shall not dwell on the physical sufferings we underwent while working
+on this road, for the reason that the conditions I have described were
+prevalent over the whole country; and later, when I had the opportunity
+to visit some construction camps in Samaria and Judaea found that in
+comparison our lot had been a happy one. While we were breaking stones
+and trundling squeaking wheelbarrows, however, the most disquieting
+rumors began to drift in to us from our home villages. Plundering had
+been going on in the name of "requisitioning"; the country was full of
+soldiery whose capacity for mischief-making was well known to us, and it
+was torture to think of what might be happening in our peaceful homes
+where so few men had been left for protection. All the barbed-wire
+fences, we heard, had been torn up and sent north for the construction
+of barricades. In a wild land like Palestine, where the native has no
+respect for property, where fields and crops are always at the mercy of
+marauders, the barbed-wire fence has been a tremendous factor for
+civilization, and with these gone the Arabs were once more free to sweep
+across the country unhindered, stealing and destroying.
+
+The situation grew more and more unbearable. One day a little Christian
+soldier--a Nazarene--disappeared from the ranks. We never saw him again,
+but we learned that his sister, a very young girl, had been forcibly
+taken by a Turkish officer of the Nazareth garrison. In Palestine, the
+dishonor of a girl can be redeemed by blood alone. The young soldier had
+hunted for his sister, found her in the barracks, and shot her; he then
+surrendered himself to the military authorities, who undoubtedly put him
+to death. He had not dared to kill the real criminal,--the officer,--for
+he knew that this would not only bring death to his family, but would
+call down terrible suffering on all the Christians of Nazareth.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST]
+
+When I learned of this tragedy, I determined to get out of the army and
+return to my village at all costs. Nine Turkish officers out of ten can
+be bought, and I had reason to know that the officer in command at
+Saffêd was not that tenth man. Now, according to the law of the country,
+a man has the right to purchase exemption from military service for a
+sum equivalent to two hundred dollars. My case was different, for I was
+already enrolled; but everything is possible in Turkey. I set to work,
+and in less than two weeks I had bought half a dozen officers, ranging
+from corporal to captain, and had obtained consent of the higher
+authorities to my departure, provided I could get a physician's
+certificate declaring me unfit for service.
+
+This was arranged in short order, although I am healthy-looking and the
+doctor found some difficulty in hitting on an appropriate ailment.
+Finally he decided that I had "too much blood"--whatever that might
+mean. With his certificate in hand, I paid the regular price of two
+hundred dollars from funds which had been sent me by my family, and
+walked out of the barracks a free man. My happiness was mingled with
+sadness at the thought of leaving the comrades with whom I had suffered
+and hoped. The four boys from my village were splendid. They felt that I
+was right in going home to do what I could for the people, but when they
+kissed me good-bye, in the Eastern fashion, the tears were running down
+their cheeks; and they were all strong, brave fellows.
+
+On my way back to Zicron-Jacob, I passed through the town of Sheff'amr,
+where I got a foretaste of the conditions I was to find at home. A
+Turkish soldier, sauntering along the street, helped himself to fruit
+from the basket of an old vender, and went on without offering to pay a
+farthing. When the old man ventured to protest, the soldier turned like
+a flash and began beating him mercilessly, knocking him down and
+battering him until he was bruised, bleeding, and covered with the mud
+of the street. There was a hubbub; a crowd formed, through which a
+Turkish officer forced his way, demanding explanations. The soldier
+sketched the situation in a few words, whereupon the officer, turning to
+the old man, said impressively,--"If a soldier of the Sultan should
+choose to heap filth on your head, it is for you to kiss his hand in
+gratitude."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE HIDDEN ARMS
+
+
+When I finally reached Zicron-Jacob, I found rather a sad state of
+affairs. Military law had been declared. No one was supposed to be seen
+in the streets after sundown. The village was full of soldiers, and
+civilians had to put up with all kinds of ill-treatment. Moreover, our
+people were in a state of great excitement because an order had recently
+come from the Turkish authorities bidding them surrender whatever
+fire-arms or weapons they had in their possession. A sinister command,
+this: we knew that similar measures had been taken before the terrible
+Armenian massacres, and we felt that some such fate might be in
+preparation for our people. With the arms gone, the head men of the
+village knew that our last hold over the Arabs, our last chance for
+defense against sudden violence, would be gone, and they had refused to
+give them up. A house-to-house search had been made--fruitlessly, for
+our little arsenal was safely cached in a field, beneath growing grain.
+
+It was a tense, unpleasant situation. At any time the Turks might decide
+to back up their demand by some of the violent methods of which they
+are past masters. A family council was held in my home, and it was
+decided to send my sister, a girl of twenty-three, to some friends at
+the American Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, so that we might be
+able to move freely without the responsibility of having a girl at home,
+in a country where, as a matter of course, the women-folk are seized and
+carried off before a massacre. At Beirut we knew that there was an
+American Consul-General, who kept in continual touch with the battleship
+anchored in the harbor for the protection of American interests.
+
+My sister got away none too soon. One evening shortly after her
+departure, when I was standing in the doorway of our house watching the
+ever fresh miracle of the Eastern sunset, a Turkish officer came riding
+down the street with about thirty cavalrymen. He called me out and
+ordered me to follow him to the little village inn, where he dismounted
+and led me to one of the inner rooms, his spurs jingling loudly as we
+passed along the stone corridor.
+
+I never knew whether I had been selected for this attention because of
+my prominence as a leader of the Jewish young men or simply because I
+had been standing conveniently in the doorway. The officer closed the
+door and came straight to the point by asking me where our store of
+arms was hidden. He was a big fellow, with the handsome, cruel features
+usual enough in his class. There was no open menace in his first
+question. When I refused to tell him, he began wheedling and offering
+all sorts of favors if I would betray my people. Then, all of a sudden,
+he whipped out a revolver and stuck the muzzle right in my face. I felt
+the blood leave my heart, but I was able to control myself and refuse
+his demand. The officer was not easily discouraged; the hours I passed
+in that little room, with its smoky kerosene lamp, were terrible ones. I
+realized, however, how tremendously important the question of the arms
+was, and strength was given me to hold out until the officer gave up in
+disgust and let me go home.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN, IN
+ZICRON-JACOB]
+
+My father, an old man, knew nothing of what had happened, but the rest
+of my family were tremendously excited. I made light of the whole
+affair, but I felt sure that this was only the beginning. Sure enough,
+next morning--the Sabbath--the same officer returned and put three of
+the leading elders of the village, together with myself, under arrest.
+After another fruitless inquisition at the hotel, we were handcuffed and
+started on foot toward the prison, a day's journey away. As our little
+procession passed my home, my father, who was aged and feeble, came
+tottering forward to say good-bye to me. A soldier pushed him roughly
+back; he reeled, then fell full-length in the street before my eyes.
+
+It was a dismal departure. We were driven through the streets shackled
+like criminals, and the women and children came out of the houses and
+watched us in silence--their heads bowed, tears running down their
+cheeks. They realized that for thirty-five years these old men, my
+comrades, had been struggling and suffering for their ideal--a
+regenerated Palestine; now, in the dusk of their life, it seemed as if
+all their hopes and dreams were coming to ruin. The oppressive tragedy
+of the situation settled down on me more and more heavily as the day
+wore on and heat and fatigue told on my companions. My feelings must
+have been written large on my face, for one of them, a fine-looking
+patriarch, tried to give me comfort by reminding me that we must not
+rely upon strength of arms, and that our spirit could never be broken,
+no matter how defenseless we were. Thus he, an old man, was encouraging
+me instead of receiving help from my youth and enthusiasm.
+
+At last we arrived at the prison and were locked into separate cells.
+That same night we were tortured with the _falagy_, or bastinado. The
+victim of this horrible punishment is trussed up, arms and legs, and
+thrown on his knees; then, on the bare soles of his feet a pliant green
+rod is brought down with all the force of a soldier's arm. The pain is
+exquisite; blood leaps out at the first cut, and strong men usually
+faint after thirty or forty strokes. Strange to say, the worst part of
+it is not the blow itself, but the whistling of the rod through the air
+as it rushes to its mark. The groans of my older comrades, whose gasps
+and prayers I could hear through the walls of the cell, helped me bear
+the agony until unconsciousness mercifully came to the rescue.
+
+For several days more we were kept in the prison, sick and broken with
+suffering. The second night, as I lay sleepless and desperate on the
+strip of dirty matting that served as bed, I heard a scratch-scratching
+at the grated slit of a window, and presently a slender stick was
+inserted into the cell. I went over and shook it; some one at the other
+end was holding it firm. And then, a curious whispering sound began to
+come from the end of the stick. I put my ear down, and caught the voice
+of one of the men from our village. He had taken a long bamboo pole,
+pierced the joints, and crept up behind a broken old wall close beneath
+my window. By means of this primitive telephone we talked as long as we
+dared. I assured him that we were still enduring, and urged him on no
+account to give up the arms to the Turkish authorities--not even if we
+had to make the ultimate sacrifice.
+
+Finally, when it was found that torture and imprisonment would not make
+us yield our secret, the Turks resorted to the final test--the ordeal
+which we could not withstand. They announced that on a certain date a
+number of our young girls would be carried off and handed over to the
+officers, to be kept until the arms were disclosed. We knew that they
+were capable of carrying out this threat; we knew exactly what it meant.
+There was no alternative. The people of our village had nothing to do
+but dig up the treasured arms and, with broken hearts, hand them over to
+the authorities.
+
+And so the terrible news was brought to us one morning that we were
+free. Personally, I felt much happier on the day I was put in prison
+than when I was released. I had often wondered how our people had been
+able to bear the rack and thumbscrew of the Spanish Inquisition; but
+when my turn and my comrades' came for torture, I realized that the same
+spirit that helped our ancestors was working in us also.
+
+Now I knew that our suffering had been useless. Whenever the Turkish
+authorities wished, the horrors of the Armenian massacres would live
+again in Zicron-Jacob, and we should be powerless to raise a hand to
+protect ourselves. As we came limping home through the streets of our
+village, I caught sight of my own Smith & Wesson revolver in the hands
+of a mere boy of fifteen--the son of a well-known Arab outlaw. I
+realized then that the Turks had not only taken our weapons, but had
+distributed them among the natives in order to complete our humiliation.
+The blood rushed to my face. I started forward to take the revolver away
+from the boy, but one of the old men caught hold of my sleeve and held
+me back.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: IN A NATIVE CAFÉ, SAFFÊD/A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN
+
+
+I have already spoken of the so-called "requisitioning" that took place
+among our people while I was working at Saffêd. This, of course, really
+amounted to wholesale pillage. The hand of the Turkish looters had
+fallen particularly heavy on carts and draught animals. As the Arabs
+know little or nothing of carting, hauling, or the management of horses
+and mules, the Turks, simply enough, had "requisitioned" many of the
+owners--middle-aged or elderly men--and forced them to go south to help
+along with the tremendous preparations that were being made for the
+attack on Suez. Among these were a number of men from our village. In
+the course of time their families began to get the most harrowing
+messages from them. They were absolutely destitute, no wages being paid
+them by the Turks; their clothes were dropping off them in rags; many
+were sick. After much excited planning, it was decided to send another
+man and myself down south on a sort of relief expedition, with a
+substantial sum of money that had been raised with great difficulty by
+our people. Through the influence of my brother at the Agricultural
+Experiment Station, I got permission from the _mouchtar_ to leave
+Zicron-Jacob, and about the middle of January, 1915, I set out for
+Jerusalem.
+
+To Western minds, the idea of the Holy City serving as a base for modern
+military operations must be full of incongruities. And, as a matter of
+fact, it _was_ an amazing sight to see the streets packed with
+khaki-clad soldiers and hear the brooding silence of ancient walls
+shattered by the crash of steel-shod army boots. Here, for the first
+time, I saw the German officers--quantities of them. Strangely out of
+place they looked, with their pink-and-whiteness that no amount of hot
+sunshine could quite burn off. They wore the regular German officer's
+uniform, except that the _Pickelhaube_ was replaced by a khaki
+sun-helmet. I was struck by the youthfulness of them; many were nothing
+but boys, and there were weak, dissolute faces in plenty--a fact that
+was later explained when I heard that Palestine had been the
+dumping-ground for young men of high family whose parents were anxious
+to have them as far removed as possible from the danger zone. Fast's
+Hotel was the great meeting-place in Jerusalem for these young bloods.
+Every evening thirty or forty would foregather there to drink and talk
+women and strategy. I well remember the evening when one of them--a
+slender young Prussian with no back to his head, braceleted and
+monocled--rose and announced, in the decisive tones that go with a
+certain stage of intoxication: "What we ought to do is to hand over the
+organization of this campaign to Thomas Cook & Sons!"
+
+However, the German officers were by no means all incompetents. They
+realized (I soon found out) that they had little hope of bringing a big
+army through the Egyptian desert and making a successful campaign there.
+Their object was to immobilize a great force of British troops around
+the Canal, to keep the Mohammedan population in Palestine impressed with
+Turkish power, and to stir up religious unrest among the natives in
+Egypt. It must be admitted that in the first two of these purposes they
+have been successful.
+
+The Turks were less far-sighted. They believed firmly that they were
+going to sweep the English off the face of the earth and enter Cairo in
+triumph, and preparations for the march on Suez went on with feverish
+enthusiasm. The ideas of the common soldiers on this subject were
+amusing. Some of them declared that the Canal was to be filled up by the
+sandbags which had been prepared in great quantities. Others held that
+thousands of camels would be kept without water for many days preceding
+the attack; then the thirsty animals, when released, would rush into the
+Canal in such numbers that the troops could march to victory over the
+packed masses of drowned bodies.
+
+The army operating against Suez numbered about one hundred and fifty
+thousand men. Of these about twenty thousand were Anatolian
+Turks--trained soldiers, splendid fighting material, as was shown by
+their resistance at the Dardanelles. The rest were Palestinian Arabs,
+and very inferior troops they were. The Arab as a soldier is at once
+stupid and cunning: fierce when victory is on his side, but unreliable
+when things go against him. In command of the expedition was the famous
+Djemal Pasha, a Young Turk general of tremendous energy, but possessing
+small ability to see beyond details to the big, broad concepts of
+strategy. Although a great friend of Enver Pasha, he looked with
+disfavor on the German officers and, in particular, on Bach Pasha, the
+German Governor of Jerusalem, with whom he had serious disagreements.
+This dislike of the Germans was reflected among the lesser Turkish
+officers. Many of these, after long years of service, found themselves
+subordinated to young foreigners, who, in addition to arbitrary
+promotion, received much higher salaries than the Turks. What is more,
+they were paid in clinking gold, whereas the Turks, when paid at all,
+got paper currency.
+
+Beersheba, a prosperous town of the ancient province of Idumea, was the
+southern base of operations for the advance on Suez. Some of our
+villagers had been sent to this district, and, in searching for them, I
+had the opportunity of seeing at least the taking-off place of the
+expedition. Beyond this point no Jew or Christian was allowed to pass,
+with the exception of the physicians, all of whom were non-Mohammedans
+who had been forced into the army.
+
+Beersheba was swarming with troops. They filled the town and overflowed
+on to the sands outside, where a great tent-city grew up. And everywhere
+that the Turkish soldiers went, disorganization and inefficiency
+followed them. From all over the country the finest camels had been
+"requisitioned" and sent down to Beersheba until, at the time I was
+there, thousands and thousands of them were collected in the
+neighborhood. Through the laziness and stupidity of the Turkish
+commissariat officers, which no amount of German efficiency could
+counteract, no adequate provision was made for feeding them, and
+incredible numbers succumbed to starvation and neglect. Their great
+carcasses dotted the sand in all directions; it was only the wonderful
+antiseptic power of the Eastern sun that held pestilence in check.
+
+The soldiers themselves suffered much hardship. The crowding in the
+tents was unspeakable; the water-supply was almost as inadequate as the
+medical service, which consisted chiefly of volunteer Red Crescent
+societies--among them a unit of twenty German nurses sent by the
+American College at Beirut. Medical supplies, such as they were, had
+been taken from the different mission hospitals and pharmacies of
+Palestine--these "requisitions" being made by officers who knew nothing
+of medical requirements and simply scooped together everything in sight.
+As a result, one of the army physicians told me that in Beersheba he had
+opened some medical chests consigned to him and found, to his horror,
+that they were full of microscopes and gynecological instruments--for
+the care of wounded soldiers in the desert!
+
+Visits of British aeroplanes to Beersheba were common occurrences. Long
+before the machine itself could be seen, its whanging, resonant hum
+would come floating out of the blazing sky, seemingly from everywhere at
+once. Soldiers rushed from their tents, squinting up into the heavens
+until the speck was discovered, swimming slowly through the air; then
+followed wholesale firing at an impossible range until the officers
+forbade it. True to the policy of avoiding all unnecessary harm to the
+natives, these British aviators never dropped bombs on the town,
+but--what was more dangerous from the Turkish point of view--they would
+unload packages of pamphlets, printed in Arabic, informing the natives
+that they were being deceived; that the Allies were their only true
+friends; that the Germans were merely making use of them to further
+their own schemes, etc. These cleverly worded little tracts came
+showering down out of the sky, and at first they were eagerly picked up.
+The Turkish commanders, however, soon announced that any one found
+carrying them would pay the death penalty. After that, when the little
+bundles dropped near them, the natives would, run as if from high
+explosive bombs.
+
+All things considered, it is wonderful that the Turkish demonstration
+against the Canal came as near to fulfillment as it did. Twenty thousand
+soldiers actually crossed the desert in six days on scant rations, and
+with them they took two big guns, which they dragged by hand when the
+mules dropped from thirst and exhaustion. They also carried pontoons to
+be used in crossing the Canal. Guns and pontoons are now at rest in the
+Museum at Cairo.
+
+Just what took place in the attack is known to very few. The English
+have not seen fit to make public the details, and there was little to be
+got from the demoralized soldiers who returned to Beersheba. Piece by
+piece, however, I gathered that the attacking party had come up to the
+Canal at dawn. Finding everything quiet, they set about getting across,
+and had even launched a pontoon, when the British, who were lying in
+wait, opened a terrific fire from the farther bank, backed by armored
+locomotives and aeroplanes. "It was as if the gates of Jehannum were
+opened and its fires turned loose upon us," one soldier told me.
+
+The Turks succeeded in getting their guns into action for a very short
+while. One of the men-of-war in the Canal was hit; several houses in
+Ismaïlia suffered damage; but the invaders were soon driven away in
+confusion, leaving perhaps two thousand prisoners in the hands of the
+English. If the latter had chosen to do so, they could have annihilated
+the Turkish forces then and there. The ticklish state of mind of the
+Mohammedan population in Egypt, however, has led them to adopt a policy
+of leniency and of keeping to the defensive, which subsequent
+developments have more than justified. It is characteristic of England's
+faculty for holding her colonies that batteries manned by Egyptians did
+the finest work in defense of the Canal.
+
+The reaction in Palestine after the defeat at Suez was tremendous. Just
+before the attack, Djemal Pasha had sent out a telegram announcing the
+overwhelming defeat of the British vanguard, which had caused wild
+enthusiasm. Another later telegram proclaimed that the Canal had been
+reached, British men-of-war sunk, the Englishmen routed--with a loss to
+the Turks of five men and two camels, "which were afterwards recovered."
+"But," added the telegram, "a terrible sand-storm having arisen, the
+glorious army takes it as the wish of Allah not to continue the attack,
+and has therefore withdrawn in triumph."
+
+These reports hoodwinked the ignorant natives for a little while, but
+when the stream of haggard soldiers, wounded and exhausted, began
+pouring back from the south, they guessed what had happened, and a
+fierce revulsion against the Germano-Turkish régime set in. A few weeks
+before the advance on Suez, I was in Jaffa, where the enthusiasm and
+excitement had been at fever-pitch. Parades and celebrations of all
+kinds in anticipation of the triumphal march into Egypt were taking
+place, and one day a camel, a dog, and a bull, decorated respectively
+with the flags of Russia, France, and England, were driven through the
+streets. The poor animals were horribly maltreated by the natives, who
+rained blows and flung filth upon them by way of giving concrete
+expression to their contempt for the Allies. Mr. Glazebrook, the
+American Consul at Jerusalem, happened to be with me in Jaffa that day;
+and never shall I forget the expression of pain and disgust on his face
+as he watched this melancholy little procession of scapegoats hurrying
+along the street.
+
+Now, however, all was changed. The Arabs, who take defeat badly, turned
+against the authorities who had got them into such trouble. Rumors
+circulated that Djemal Pasha had been bought by the English and that the
+defeat at Suez had been planned by him, and persons keeping an ear close
+to the ground began to hear mutterings of a general massacre of Germans.
+In fact, things came within an ace of a bloody outbreak. I knew some
+Germans in Jaffa and Haifa who firmly believed that it was all over with
+them. In the defeated army itself the Turkish officers gave vent to
+their hatred of the Germans. Three German officers were shot by their
+Turkish comrades during the retreat, and a fourth committed suicide.
+However, Djemal Pasha succeeded in keeping order by means of stern
+repressive methods and by the fear roused by his large body-guard of
+faithful Anatolians.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS/CAMELS
+BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS]
+
+We felt sure that the Turkish defeat would put a damper on the arrogance
+of the soldiery. But even the Mohammedan population were hoping that the
+Allies would push their victory and land troops in Syria and Palestine;
+for though they hated the infidel, they loved the Turk not at all, and
+the country was exhausted and the blockade of the Mediterranean by the
+Allies prevented the import and export of articles. The oranges were
+rotting on the trees because the annual Liverpool market was closed to
+Palestine, and other crops were in similar case. The country was short,
+too, of petroleum, sugar, rice, and other supplies, and even of matches.
+We had to go back to old customs and use flint and steel for fire, and
+we seldom used our lamps. Money was scarce, too, and, Turkey having
+declared a moratorium, cash was often unobtainable even by those who had
+money in the banks, and much distress ensued.
+
+As the defeated army was pouring in from the south, I decided to leave
+Beersheba and go home. The roads and the fields were covered with dead
+camels and horses and mules. Hundreds of soldiers were straggling in
+disorder, many of them on leave but many deserting. Soon after the
+defeat at the Canal several thousand soldiers deserted, but an amnesty
+was declared and they returned to their regiments.
+
+When I arrived at Jerusalem I found the city filled with soldiers.
+Djemal Pasha had just returned from the desert, and his quarters were
+guarded by a battery of two field guns. Nobody knew what to expect; some
+thought that the country would have a little more freedom now that the
+soldiery had lost its braggadocio, while others expected the lawlessness
+that attends disorganization. I went to see Consul Glazebrook. He is a
+true American, a Southerner, formerly a professor of theology at
+Princeton. He was most earnest and devoted in behalf of the American
+citizens that came under his care, rendering at Jerusalem the same sort
+of service that Ambassador Morgenthau has rendered at Constantinople. He
+was practically the only man who stood up for the poor, defenseless
+people of the city. He received me kindly, and I told him what I knew of
+conditions in the country, what I had heard among the Arabs, and of my
+own fears and apprehensions. He was visibly impressed and he advised me
+to see Captain Decker, of the U.S.S. Tennessee, who was then in Jaffa,
+promising to write himself to the captain of my proposed visit.
+
+I went to Jaffa the same day and after two days' delay succeeded in
+seeing Captain Decker, with the further help of Mr. Glazebrook, who took
+me with him. The police interfered and tried to keep me from going
+aboard the ship, but after long discussions I was permitted to take my
+place in the launch that the captain had sent for the consul.
+
+Captain Decker was interested in what I had to say, and at his request I
+dictated my story to his stenographer. What became of my report I do not
+know,--whether it was transmitted to the Department of State or whether
+Captain Decker communicated with Ambassador Morgenthau,--but at all
+events we soon began to see certain reforms inaugurated in parts of the
+country, and these reforms could have been effected only through
+pressure from Constantinople. The presence of the two American cruisers
+in the Mediterranean waters has without any doubt been instrumental in
+the saving of many lives.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS
+
+
+While I was traveling in the south, another menace to our people's
+welfare had appeared: the locusts. From the Soudan they came in
+tremendous hosts--black clouds of them that obscured the sun. It seemed
+as if Nature had joined in the conspiracy against us. These locusts were
+of the species known as the pilgrim, or wandering, locust; for forty
+years they had not come to Palestine, but now their visitation was like
+that of which the prophet Joel speaks in the Old Testament. They came
+full-grown, ripe for breeding; the ground was covered with the females
+digging in the soil and depositing their egg-packets, and we knew that
+when they hatched we should be overwhelmed, for there was not a foot of
+ground in which these eggs were not to be found.
+
+The menace was so great that even the military authorities were obliged
+to take notice of it. They realized that if it were allowed to fulfill
+itself, there would be famine in the land, and the army would suffer
+with the rest. Djemal Pasha summoned my brother (the President of the
+Agricultural Experiment Station at Athlit) and intrusted him with the
+organization of a campaign against the insects. It was a hard enough
+task. The Arabs are lazy, and fatalistic besides; they cannot understand
+why men should attempt to fight the _Djesh Allah_ ("God's Army"), as
+they call the locusts. In addition, my brother was seriously handicapped
+by lack of petroleum, galvanized iron, and other articles which could
+not be obtained because of the Allies' blockade.
+
+In spite of these drawbacks, however, he attempted to work up a
+scientific campaign. Djemal Pasha put some thousands of Arab soldiers at
+his disposition, and these were set to work digging trenches into which
+the hatching locusts were driven and destroyed. This is the only means
+of coping with the situation: once the locusts get their wings, nothing
+can be done with them. It was a hopeless fight. Nothing short of the
+coöperation of every farmer in the country could have won the day; and
+while the people of the progressive Jewish villages struggled on to the
+end,--men, women, and children working in the fields until they were
+exhausted,--the Arab farmers sat by with folded hands. The threats of
+the military authorities only stirred them to half-hearted efforts.
+Finally, after two months of toil, the campaign was given up and the
+locusts broke in waves over the countryside, destroying everything. As
+the prophet Joel said, "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the
+corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.... The
+land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate
+wilderness."
+
+Not only was every green leaf devoured, but the very bark was peeled
+from the trees, which stood out white and lifeless, like skeletons. The
+fields were stripped to the ground, and the old men of our villages, who
+had given their lives to cultivating these gardens and vineyards, came
+out of the synagogues where they had been praying and wailing, and
+looked on the ruin with dimmed eyes. Nothing was spared. The insects, in
+their fierce hunger, tried to engulf everything in their way. I have
+seen Arab babies, left by their mothers in the shade of some tree, whose
+faces had been devoured by the oncoming swarms of locusts before their
+screams had been heard. I have seen the carcasses of animals hidden from
+sight by the undulating, rustling blanket of insects. And in the face of
+such a menace the Arabs remained inert. With their customary fatalism
+they accepted the locust plague as a necessary evil. They could not
+understand why we were so frantic to fight it. And as a matter of fact,
+they really got a good deal out of the locusts, for they loved to feast
+upon the female insects. They gathered piles of them and threw them upon
+burning charcoal, then, squatting around the fire, devoured the roasted
+insects with great gusto. I saw a fourteen-year-old boy eat as many as a
+hundred at a sitting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE LEBANON
+
+
+During the locust invasion my brother sent me on an inspection tour to
+investigate the ravages of the insect in Syria. With an official
+_boyouroulton_ (passport) in my pocket, I was able to travel all over
+the country without being interfered with by the military authorities. I
+had an excellent opportunity to see what was going on everywhere. The
+locusts had destroyed everything from as far south as the Egyptian
+desert to the Lebanon Mountains on the north; but the locust was not the
+only, nor the worst, plague that the people had to complain of. The
+plundering under the name of "military requisitions," the despotic rule
+of the army officers, and the general insecurity were even more
+desolating.
+
+As I proceeded on my journey northward, I hoped to find consolation and
+brighter prospects in the independent province of the Lebanon. Few
+Americans know just what the Lebanon is. From the repeated allusions in
+the Bible most people imagine it to be nothing but a mountain. The truth
+is that a beautiful province of about four thousand square miles bears
+that name. The population of the Lebanon consists of a Christian sect
+called Maronites and the Druses, the latter a people with a secret
+religion the esoteric teachings of which are known only to the
+initiated, and never divulged to outsiders. Both these peoples are
+sturdy, handsome folk. Through the machinations of the Turks, whose
+policy is always to "divide and rule," the Maronites were continually
+fighting against the Druses. In 1860 Turkish troops joined with the
+Druses and fell upon the Maronites with wholesale massacres that spread
+as far south as Damascus, where ten thousand Christians were killed in
+two days.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON]
+
+The European powers were moved at last. Fifty warships were sent to
+Beirut, and ten thousand French troops were landed in the Lebanon, to
+create order. Under the pressure of the European powers the Sublime
+Porte was forced to grant an autonomy for the province of the Lebanon.
+The French, English, German, Russian, Austrian, and, a year later, the
+Italian, Governments were signing the guaranty of this autonomy.
+
+Since then the Lebanon has had peace. The Governor of the province must
+always be a Christian, but the General Council of the Lebanon includes
+representatives of all the different races and religions of the
+population. A wonderful development began with the liberation from
+Turkish oppression. Macadamized roads were built all over the province,
+agriculture was improved, and there was complete safety for life and
+property. There is a proverb now in Palestine and Syria which says, "In
+the Lebanon a virgin may travel alone at midnight and be safe, and a
+purse of gold dropped in the road at midday will never be stolen." And
+the proverb told the literal truth.
+
+When one crossed the boundary from Turkish Palestine into the Lebanon
+province, what a change met his eyes!--peaceful and prosperous villages,
+schools filled with children, immense plantations of mulberry trees and
+olives, the slopes of the mountains terraced with beautiful vineyards, a
+handsome and sturdy population, police on every road to help the
+stranger, and young girls and women with happy laugh and chatter working
+in the fields. With a population of about six hundred thousand this
+province exported annually two million dollars' worth of raw silk,
+silkworm-raising being a specialty of the Lebanon.
+
+When autonomy was granted the Lebanon, French influence became
+predominant among the Maronites and other Christians of the province.
+French is spoken by almost all of them, and love for France is a
+deep-rooted sentiment of the people. On the other hand, the Druses feel
+the English influence. For the last sixty years England has been the
+friend of the Druses, and they have not forgotten it.
+
+It may be worth while to tell in a few words the story of one man who
+accomplished wonders in spreading the influence of his country. Sir
+Richard Wood was born in London, a son of Catholic parents. From his
+early boyhood he aspired to enter the diplomatic service. The East
+attracted him strongly, and in order to learn Arabic he went with
+another young Englishman to live in the Lebanon. In Beirut they sought
+the hospitality of the Maronite patriarch. For a few days they were
+treated with lavish hospitality, and then the patriarch summoned them
+before him and told them that they must leave the city within
+twenty-four hours. The reason for their disgrace they discovered later.
+Not suspecting that they were being put to the test, they had eaten meat
+on a Friday, and this made the patriarch think that they were not true
+Catholics, but were there as spies.
+
+Leaving Beirut in haste, Wood and his friend sought shelter with the
+Druses, who received them with open arms. For two years Wood lived
+among the Druses, in the village of Obey. There he learned Arabic and
+became thoroughly acquainted with the country and with the ways of the
+Druses, and there he conceived the idea of winning the Druses for
+England to counteract the influence of the French Maronites. He went
+back to London, where he succeeded in impressing his views upon the
+Foreign Office, and he returned to Syria charged with a secret mission.
+Before long he persuaded the Druse chieftains to address a petition to
+England asking for British protection.
+
+British protection was granted, and for over thirty years Richard Wood,
+virtually single-handed, shaped the destiny of Syria. It was he who
+broke the power of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet Ali; it was he who
+guided Admiral Stopford in the bombardment of Beirut; it was he, again,
+who brought about the landing of English troops in Syria in 1841; we
+find him afterwards in Damascus as British Consul, and wherever he went
+he was always busy spreading English power and prestige. He understood
+the East thoroughly and felt that England must be strong in Syria if she
+wished to retain her imperial power. It is very unfortunate that the
+policy of Sir Richard Wood was not carried out by his nation.
+
+It was with high hopes and expectations that I approached the Lebanon.
+I was looking forward to the moment when I should find myself among
+people who were free from the Turkish yoke, in a country where I should
+be able to breathe freely for a few hours.
+
+But how great was my consternation, when, on entering the Lebanon, I
+found on all the roads Turkish soldiers who stopped me every minute to
+ask for my papers! Even then I could not realize that the worst had
+happened. Of course, rumors of the Turkish occupation of the Lebanon had
+reached us a few weeks before, but we had not believed it, as we knew
+that Germany and Austria were among those who guaranteed the autonomy of
+the Lebanon. It was true, however; the scrap of paper that guaranteed
+the freedom of the Lebanon had proved of no more value to the Lebanese
+than had that other scrap of paper to Belgium. As I entered the
+beautiful village of Ed-Damur, one of the most prosperous and enchanting
+places on earth, I saw entire regiments of Turkish troops encamped in
+and about the village.
+
+While I was watering my horse, I tried to ask questions from a few
+inhabitants. My fair hair and complexion and my khaki costume made them
+take me for a German, and they barely answered me, but when I addressed
+them in French their faces lit up. For the Lebanon, for all it is
+thousands of miles away from France, is nevertheless like a French
+province. For fifty years the French language and French culture have
+taken hold of the Lebanon. No Frenchman has more love for and faith in
+France than lie in the hearts of the Lebanese Christians. They have
+never forgotten that when massacres were threatening to wipe out all the
+Christians of the Lebanon, ten thousand French soldiers swept over the
+mountains to spread peace, life, and French gayety.
+
+And when the poor people heard the language they loved, and when they
+found out that I too was the son of an oppressed and ruined community,
+all the sadness and bitterness of their hearts was told me,--how the
+Turkish soldiers had spread over the beloved mountains of Lebanon; how
+the strong, stalwart young Lebanese had been taken away from the
+mountains and forced into the Turkish army; how the girls and women were
+hiding in their homes, afraid to be seen by the soldiers and their
+officers; how the chieftains were imprisoned and even hanged; and how
+violence and pillage had spread over the peaceful country.[Footnote:
+Since the above was written the American press has chronicled many
+atrocities committed in the Lebanon. The execution of leaders and the
+complete blockade of the mountains by the Turkish authorities resulted
+in the starving of eighty thousand Lebanese. The French Government has
+warned Turkey through the American Ambassador that the Turks will be
+held accountable for their deeds.]
+
+I could not help wondering at the mistakes of the Allies. If they had
+understood the situation in Palestine and Syria, how differently this
+war might have eventuated! The Lebanon and Syria would have raised a
+hundred thousand picked men, if the Allies had landed in Palestine. The
+Lebanon would have fought for its independence as heroically as did the
+Belgians. Even the Arab population would have welcomed the Allies as
+liberators. But alas!
+
+With a saddened heart I pursued my journey into Beirut. My coming was a
+joyful surprise to my sister. Many sad things had happened since she had
+last seen me. During my imprisonment she had suffered tortures, not
+knowing what would happen to me, and now that she saw me alive she cried
+from happiness. She told me how kindly she had been treated by President
+Bliss, of the Syrian Protestant College, and of all the good things the
+college had done.
+
+What a blessing the college was for the people of Beirut! Many
+unfortunate people were saved from prison and hardships through the
+intervention of President Bliss. He never tired of rendering service,
+wonderful personal service. But alas, even his influence and power began
+to wane. The American prestige in the country was broken, and the
+Turkish Government no longer respected the American flag. An order
+issued from Constantinople demanded that the official language of the
+college be Turkish instead of English, and Turkish officers even dared
+to enter the college premises to search for citizens belonging to the
+belligerent nations, without troubling to ask permission from the
+American Consul.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: HAIFA]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE
+
+
+Beirut is a city of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, half of whom
+are Christians and the rest Mohammedans and Jews. The pinch of hunger
+was already felt there. Bread was to be had only on tickets issued by
+the Government, and prices in general were extremely high. The
+population were discontented and turbulent, and every day thousands of
+women came before the governor's residence to cry and protest against
+the scarcity of bread.
+
+The Allies' warships often passed near the town, but the people were not
+afraid of them, for it was known that the Allies had no intention of
+bombarding the cities. Only once had a bombardment taken place. Toward
+the end of March, 1915, a French warship approached the bay of Haifa and
+landed an officer with a letter to the commandant of that town giving
+notice of his intention to bombard the German Consulate at 3 P.M. sharp.
+This was in retaliation for the propaganda carried on by the consul,
+Leutweld von Hardegg, and chiefly because of his desecration of the
+grave of Bonaparte's soldiers. The consul had time to pack up his
+archives and valuables, and he left his house before three. The
+bombardment began exactly at three. Fifteen shells were fired with a
+wonderful precision. Not one house in the neighborhood of the consulate
+was touched, but the consulate itself was a heap of ruins after a few
+shells had struck it. The population was exceedingly calm. Only the
+German colony was panic-stricken, and on every German house an American
+flag was raised. It was rather humorous to see all the Germans who were
+active in the Turkish army in one capacity or another seek safety by
+means of this trick.
+
+This bombardment had a sobering effect upon the Mohammedan population.
+They saw that the Allies were not wholly ignorant of what was going on
+in the country and that they could retaliate, and safety for the
+non-Mohammedans increased accordingly.
+
+In general Beirut was a rather quiet and safe place. The presence of an
+American cruiser in the port had much to do with that. The American
+sailors were allowed to come ashore three times a week, and they spent
+their money lavishly. It was estimated that Beirut was getting more than
+five thousand dollars a week out of them. But the natives were
+especially impressed by the manliness and quick action of the American
+boys. Frequently a few sailors were involved in a street fight with
+scores of Arabs, and they always held their own. In a short time the
+Americans became feared, which in the Orient is equivalent to saying
+they were respected. The Beirut people are famous for their fighting
+spirit, but this spirit was not manifested after a few weeks of intimate
+acquaintance with the American blue-jackets.
+
+My inspection of the devastation caused by the locusts completed, I
+returned home. The news that greeted me there was alarming. I must
+narrate with some detail the events which finally decided me to leave
+the country. About one hour's ride on horseback from our village lives a
+family of Turkish nobles, the head of which was Sadik Pasha, brother of
+the famous Kiamil Pasha, several times Grand Vizier of the Empire.
+Sadik, who had been exiled from Constantinople, came to Palestine and
+bought great tracts of land near my people. After his death his
+sons--good-for-nothing, wild fellows--were forced to sell most of the
+estate--all except one Fewzi Bey, who retained his part of the land and
+lived on it. Here he collected a band of friends as worthless as himself
+and gradually commenced a career of plundering and "frightfulness" much
+like that of the robber barons of mediaeval Germany. Before the
+outbreak of the war he confined his attentions chiefly to the Arabs,
+whom he treated shamefully. He raided cattle and crops and carried off
+girls and women in broad daylight. On one occasion he stopped a wedding
+procession and carried off the young bride. Then he seized the
+bridegroom, against whom he bore a grudge, and subjected the poor
+Bedouin to the bastinado until he consented to divorce his wife by
+pronouncing the words, "I divorce thee," three times in the presence of
+witnesses, according to Mohammedan custom. This Bedouin was the grandson
+of the Sheikh Hilou, a holy man of the region upon whose grave the Arabs
+are accustomed to make their prayers. But we villagers of Zicron-Jacob
+had never submitted to Fewzi Bey in any way; our young men were
+organized and armed, and after a few encounters he let us alone.
+
+After the mobilization, however, and the taking away of our arms, this
+outlaw saw that his chance had come. He began to send his men and his
+camels into our fields to harvest our crops and carry them off. This
+pillage continued until the locusts came--Fewzi, in the mean while,
+becoming so bold that he would gallop through the streets of our village
+with his horsemen, shooting right and left into the air and insulting
+old men and women. He boasted--apparently with reason--that the
+authorities at Haifa were powerless to touch him.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM MOUNT
+CARMEL]
+
+There was one hope left. Djemal Pasha had boasted that he had introduced
+law and order; the country was under military rule; it remained to see
+what he would say and do when the crimes of Fewzi Bey were brought to
+his notice. Accordingly, armed with my _boyouroulton_, or passport, of a
+locust-inspector, I rode to Jerusalem, where I procured, through my
+brother, who was then in favor, an interview with Djemal Pasha. He
+received me on the very day of my arrival, and listened attentively
+while for a whole hour I poured out the story of Fewzi Bey's outrages. I
+put my whole heart into the plea and wound up by asking if it was to the
+credit of the progressive Young Turks to shelter feudal abuses of a
+bygone age. Djemal seemed to be impressed. He sprang from his chair,
+began walking up and down the room; then with a great dramatic gesture
+he exclaimed, "Justice shall be rendered!" and assured me that a
+commission of army officers would be sent at once to start an
+investigation. I returned to Zicron-Jacob with high hopes.
+
+Sure enough, a few days later Fewzi Bey was summoned to Jerusalem; at
+the same time the "commission," which had dwindled to one single officer
+on secret mission, put in an appearance and began to make inquiries
+among the natives. He got little satisfaction at first, for they lived
+in mortal terror of the outlaw; they grew bolder, however, when they
+learned his purpose. Complaints and testimonies came pouring in, and in
+four days the officer had the names of hundreds of witnesses,
+establishing no less than fifty-two crimes of the most serious nature.
+Fewzi's friends and relatives, in the mean while, were doing their
+utmost to stem the tide of accusations. The Kaimakam (lieutenant-
+governor) of Haifa came in person to our village and threatened the
+elders with all sorts of severities if they did not retract the charges
+they had made. But they stood firm. Had not Djemal Pasha, commander-in-
+chief of the armies in Palestine, given his word of honor that we should
+have redress?
+
+We were soon shown the depth of our naïveté in fancying that justice
+could be done in Turkey by a Turk. Fewzi Bey came back from Jerusalem,
+not in convict's clothes, but in the uniform of a Turkish officer!
+Djemal Pasha had commissioned him commandant of the Moujahaddeen
+(religious militia) of the entire region! It was bad enough to stand him
+as an outlaw; now we had to submit to him as an officer. He came riding
+into our village daily, ordering everybody about and picking me out for
+distinguished spitefulness.
+
+My position soon became unbearable. I was, of course, known as the
+organizer of the young men's union which for so long had put up a
+spirited resistance to Fewzi; I was still looked upon as a leader of the
+younger spirits, and I knew that sooner or later Fewzi would try to make
+good his threat, often repeated, that he would "shoot me like a dog." It
+was hardly likely that an open attempt on my life would be made. When
+Ambassador Morgenthau visited Palestine, he had stayed in our village
+and given my family the evidence of his sincere friendship. These things
+count in the East, and I soon got the reputation of having influential
+friends. However, there were other ways of disposing of me. One evening,
+about sunset, while I was riding through a valley near our village, my
+horse shied violently in passing a clump of bushes. I gave him the spur
+and turned and rode toward the bushes just in time to see a horseman
+dash out wildly with a rifle across his saddle. I kept the incident to
+myself, but I was more cautious and kept my eyes open wherever I went.
+One afternoon, a fortnight later, as I was riding to Hedera, another
+Jewish village, two hours' ride away, a shot was fired from behind a
+sand-dune. The bullet burned a hole in the lapel of my coat.
+
+That night I had a long talk with my brother. There was no doubt
+whatever in his mind that I should try to leave the country, while I, on
+the contrary, could not bear to think of deserting my people at the
+crisis of their fortunes. It was a beautiful night, such a night, I
+think, as only Palestine can show, a white, serene, moon-bathed night.
+The roar of the Mediterranean came out of the stillness as if to remind
+us that help and salvation could come only from the sea, the sea upon
+which scores of the warships of the Allies were sailing back and forth.
+We had argued into the small hours before I yielded to his persuasion.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A RASH ADVENTURE
+
+
+It was all very well to decide to leave the country; to get safely away
+was a different matter. There were two ways out. One of these--the land
+route by Constantinople--could not be considered. The other way was to
+board one of the American cruisers which, by order of Ambassador
+Morgenthau, were empowered to assist citizens of neutral countries to
+leave the Ottoman Empire. These cruisers had already done wonderful
+rescue work for the Russian Jews in Palestine, who, when war was
+declared, were to have been sent to the Mesopotamian town of Urfa--there
+to suffer massacre and outrage like the Armenians. This was prevented by
+Mr. Morgenthau's strenuous representations, with the result that these
+Russian Jews were gathered together as in a great drag-net and herded to
+Jaffa, amidst suffering unspeakable. There they were met by the American
+cruisers which were to transport them to Egypt. Up to the very moment
+when they set foot on the friendly warships they were robbed and
+horribly abused by the Jaffa boatmen. The eternal curse of the
+Wandering Jew! Driven from Russia, they come to seek shelter in Turkey;
+Turkey then casts them from her under pretext that they are loyal to
+Russia. Truly, the Jew lifts his eyes to the mountains, asking the
+ancient and still unanswered question, "Whence shall come my help?"
+
+The Turkish Government later repented of its leniency in allowing these
+Russian Jews to escape, and gave orders that only neutrals should leave
+the country--and then only under certain conditions. I was not a
+neutral; my first papers of American citizenship were valueless to
+further my escape. I had heard, however, that the United States cruiser
+Tennessee was to call at Jaffa, and I determined to get aboard her by
+hook or by crook. One evening, as soon as darkness had fallen, I bade a
+sorrowful farewell to my people, and set off for Jaffa, traveling only
+by night and taking out-of-the-way paths to avoid the pickets, for now
+that the locust campaign was over, my _boyouroulton_ was useless. At
+dawn, two days later, I slipped into Jaffa by way of the sand-dunes and
+went to the house of a friend whom I could trust to help me in every
+possible way, and begged him to find me a passport for a neutral. He set
+off in search and I waited all day at his house, consumed with
+impatience and anxiety. At last, toward evening, my friend returned,
+but the news he brought was not cheering. He had found a passport,
+indeed, but his report of the rigors of the inspection at the wharf was
+such as to make it clear that the chances of my getting through on a
+false passport were exceedingly slim, since I was well known in Jaffa.
+If I were caught in such an undertaking, it might mean death for me and
+punishment for the friends who had helped me.
+
+Evidently this plan was not feasible. All that night I racked my brain
+for a solution. Finally I decided to stake everything on what appeared
+to be my only chance. The Tennessee was due on the next day but one,
+early in the morning. I gave my friend the name of a boatman who was
+under obligations to me and had sworn to be my friend for life or death.
+Even under the circumstances I hesitated to trust a Mohammedan, but it
+seemed the only thing to do; I had no choice left. My friend brought the
+boatman, and I put my plan before him, appealing to his daring and his
+sense of honor. I wanted him to take me at midnight in his fishing-boat
+from an isolated part of the coast and wait for the appearance of the
+Tennessee; then, on her arrival, amid the scramble of boats full of
+refugees, I was to jump aboard, while he would return with the other
+boats. The poor fellow tried to remonstrate, pointing out the dangers
+and what he called--rightly enough, doubtless--the folly of the plan. I
+stuck to it, however, making it clear that his part would be well paid
+for, and at last he consented and we arranged a meeting-place behind the
+sand-dunes by the shore.
+
+I put a few personal belongings into a little suit-case and had my
+friend give it to one of the refugees who was to sail on the Tennessee.
+If I succeeded, I was to recover it when we reached Egypt. The only
+thing I took with me was the paper which declared my "intention of
+becoming an American citizen," the "first paper." From this document I
+was determined not to part. I shall not tell how I kept it on me, as the
+means I used may still be used by others in concealing such papers and a
+disclosure of the secret might bring disaster to them. Suffice it to say
+that I had the paper with me and that no search would have brought it to
+light.
+
+Arrived next morning at the appointed place, I gave the signal agreed
+upon, the whine of a jackal, and, after repeating it again and again, I
+heard a very low and muffled answer. My boatman was there! I had some
+fear that he might have betrayed me and that I should presently see a
+soldier or policeman leap out of the little boat, but my fears proved
+groundless, the man was faithful.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA]
+
+We rowed out quietly, our boat a little nutshell on the tossing waves.
+But I was relieved; the elements did not frighten me; on the contrary, I
+felt secure and refreshed in the midst of the sea. When morning began to
+dawn, scores of little boats came out of the harbor and circled about
+waiting for the cruiser. This was our chance. I crouched in the bottom
+of our boat and to all appearances my boatman was engaged merely in
+fishing. After I had lain there over an hour with my heart beating like
+a drum and with small hopes for the success of my undertaking, I heard
+at last the whistle of the approaching cruiser followed by a Babel of
+mad shouting and cursing among the boatmen. In the confusion I felt it
+safe to sit up. No one paid the slightest attention to me. All were
+engaged in a wild race to reach and mount the Tennessee's ladder. I
+scrambled up with the rest, and when, on the deck, an officer demanded
+my passport, I put on a bold front and asked him to tell Captain Decker
+that Mr. Aaronsohn wished to see him.
+
+Ten minutes later I stood in the captain's cabin. There I unfolded my
+story, and wound up by asking him if, under the circumstances, my "first
+papers" might not entitle me to protection. As I spoke I could see the
+struggle that was going on within him. When he answered it was to
+explain, with the utmost kindness, that if he took me aboard his ship it
+would be to forfeit his word of honor to the Turkish Government, his
+pledge to take only citizens of neutral countries; that he could not
+consider me an American on the strength of my first papers; and that any
+such evasion might lead to serious complications for him and for his
+Government. Well, there was nothing for me to do but to withdraw and go
+back to Jaffa to face trial for an attempt to escape.
+
+When I reached the deck again I found it swarming with refugees, many of
+whom knew me and came up to congratulate me on getting away. I could
+only shake my head and with death in my heart descend the Tennessee's
+ladder. It did not matter now what boat I took. Any boatman was eager
+enough to take me for a few cents. As I sat in the boat, every stroke of
+the oars bringing me nearer to the shore and to what I felt was
+inevitable captivity, a great bitterness swelled my heart. I was tired,
+utterly tired of all the dangers and trials I had been going through for
+the last months. From depression I sank into despair and out of despair
+came, strange to say, a great serenity, the serenity of despair.
+
+On the quay I ran into Hassan Bey, commandant of the police, who was
+superintending the embarkation of refugees. I knew him and he knew me.
+Half an hour later I was in police headquarters under examination by
+Hassan Bey. I was desperate, and answered him recklessly. A seasick man
+is indifferent to shipwreck. This was the substance of our
+conversation:--
+
+"How did you get aboard the ship?"
+
+"In a boat with some refugees. A woman hid me with her skirts."
+
+"So you were trying to escape, were you?"
+
+"If I had been, I shouldn't have come back."
+
+"Then what did you do on the cruiser?"
+
+"I went to talk to the captain, who is a friend of mine. My life is in
+danger. Fewzi Bey is after me, and I wanted _my friends in America_ to
+know how justice is done in Palestine."
+
+"Who are your friends in America?"
+
+"Men who could break you in a minute."
+
+"Do you know to whom you are speaking?"
+
+"Yes, Hassan Bey. I am sick of persecution. I wish you would hang me
+with your own hands as you hanged the young Christian; my friends would
+have your life for mine."
+
+I wonder now how I dared to speak to him in this manner. But the bluff
+carried. Hassan Bey looked at me curiously for a moment--then smiled
+and offered me a cigarette, assuring me that he believed me a loyal
+citizen, and declaring he felt deeply hurt that I had not come to him
+for permission to visit the cruiser. We parted with a profusion of
+Eastern compliments, and that evening I started back to Zicron-Jacob.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ESCAPE
+
+
+The failure of my attempt to leave the country only sharpened my desire
+to make another trial. The danger of the enterprise tended to reconcile
+me to deserting my family and comrades and seeking safety for myself. As
+I racked my brain for a promising plan, a letter came from my sister in
+Beirut with two pieces of news which were responsible for my final
+escape. The American College was shortly to close for the summer, and
+the U.S.S. Chester was to sail for Alexandria with refugees aboard.
+Beirut is a four days' trip from our village, and roads are unsafe. It
+was out of the question to permit my sister to come home alone, and it
+was impossible for any of us to get leave to go after her; nor did we
+want to have her at home in the unsettled condition of the country. I
+began wondering if I could not possibly get to Beirut and get my sister
+aboard the Chester, which offered, perhaps, the last opportunity to go
+out with the refugees. It would be a difficult undertaking but it might
+be our only chance and I quickly made up my mind to carry it out if it
+were a possible thing. I had to act immediately; no time was to be
+lost, for no one could tell how soon the Chester might sail.
+
+My last adventure had been entered upon with forebodings, but now I felt
+that I should succeed. To us Orientals intuition speaks in very audible
+tones and we are trained from childhood to listen to its voice. It was
+with a feeling of confidence in the outcome, therefore, that I bade this
+second good-bye to my family and dearest friends. Solemn hours they
+were, these hours of farewell, hours that needed few words. Then once
+more I slipped out into the night to make my secret way to Beirut.
+
+It was about midnight when I left home, dressed in a soldier's uniform
+and driving a donkey before me. I traveled only by night and spent each
+day in hiding in some cave or narrow valley where I could sleep with
+some measure of security. For food I had brought bread, dried figs, and
+chocolate, and water was always to be found in little springs and pools.
+In these clear, warm nights I used to think of David, a fugitive and
+pursued by his enemies. How well I could now understand his despairing
+cry: "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?... How long shall
+mine enemy be exalted over me?"
+
+Five nights I journeyed, and at last one morning beautiful Beirut
+appeared in the distance and I found myself in the forest of pines that
+leads into the city. The fresh dawn was filled with the balmy breath of
+the pines and all the odors of the Lebanon. Driving my donkey before me,
+I boldly approached the first picket-house and saluted the
+non-commissioned officer in military fashion. He stopped me and asked
+whence I came and where I was going. I smiled sweetly and replied that I
+was the orderly of a German officer who was surveying the country a few
+hours to the south and that I was going to Beirut for provisions. Then I
+lighted a cigarette and sat down for a chat. After discussing politics
+and the war for a few minutes, I jumped up, exclaiming that if I didn't
+hurry I should be late, and so took my departure. It was all so simple,
+and it brought me safely to Beirut. My donkey, having served the purpose
+for which I had brought him, was speedily abandoned, and I hurried to a
+friend's house, where I exchanged my uniform for the garb of a civilian.
+
+My sister was the most surprised person on earth when she saw me walking
+into her room, and, when I told her that I wanted her to go with me on
+the Chester, she thought me crazy, for she knew that hundreds of persons
+were trying in vain to find means of leaving the country and it seemed
+to her impossible that we, who were Turkish subjects, could succeed in
+outwitting the authorities. Even when I had explained my plans and she
+was willing to admit the possibility of success, she still felt doubts
+as to whether it would be right for her to leave the country while her
+friends were left behind in danger. I assured her, however, that our
+family would feel relieved to know that we were in safety and could come
+back fresh and strong after the war to help in rebuilding the country.
+
+Having gained her consent, I still had the difficult problem of ways and
+means before me. The Chester had orders to take citizens of neutral
+countries only. Passports had to be examined by the Turkish authorities
+and by the American Consul-General, who gave the final permission to
+board the cruiser. How was I to pass this double scrutiny? After long
+and arduous search, with the assistance of several good friends, I at
+last discovered a man who was willing to sell me the passports of a
+young couple belonging to a neutral nation. I cannot go into particulars
+about this arrangement, of course. Suffice it to say that my sister was
+to travel as my wife and that we both had to disguise ourselves so as to
+answer the descriptions on the passports. When I went to the American
+Consulate-General to get the permit, I found the building crowded with
+people of all nations,--Spanish and Greek and Dutch and Swiss,--all
+waiting for the precious little papers that should take them aboard the
+American cruiser, that haven of liberty and safety. The Chester was to
+take all these people to Alexandria, and those who had the means were to
+be charged fifty cents a day for their food. From behind my dark goggles
+I recognized many a person in disguise like myself and seeking escape.
+We never betrayed recognition for fear of the spies who infested the
+place.
+
+After securing my permit, I ran downstairs and straight to "my" consul,
+whose dragoman I took along with me to the _seraya_, or government
+building. Of course, the dragoman was well tipped and he helped me
+considerably in hastening the examination I had to undergo at the hands
+of the Turkish officials. All went well, and I hurried back to my sister
+triumphant.
+
+The Chester was to sail in two days, but while we were waiting, the
+alarming news came that the American Consul had been advised that the
+British Government refused to permit the landing of the refugees in
+Egypt and that the departure of the Chester was indefinitely postponed.
+With a sinking at my heart I rushed up to the American Consulate for
+details and there learned that the U.S.S. Des Moines was to sail in a
+few hours for Rhodes with Italian and Greek refugees and that I could
+go on her if I wished. In a few minutes I had my permit changed for the
+trip on the Des Moines and I hurried home to my sister. We hastily got
+together the few belongings we were to take with us, jumped into a
+carriage, and drove to the harbor.
+
+We had still another ordeal to go through. My sister was taken into a
+private room and thoroughly searched; so was I. Nobody could leave the
+country with more than twenty-five dollars in cash on his person. Our
+baggage was carefully overhauled. No papers or books could be taken. My
+sister's Bible was looked upon with much suspicion since it contained a
+map of ancient Canaan. I explained that this was necessary for the
+orientation of our prayers and that without it we could not tell in
+which direction to turn our faces when praying! This seemed plausible to
+the Moslem examiners and saved the Bible, the only book we now possess
+as a souvenir from home. Now our passports were examined again and
+several questions were asked. My sister was brave and self-possessed,
+cool and unconcerned in manner, and at last the final signature was
+affixed and we jumped into the little boat that was to take us out to
+the ship.
+
+At this moment a man approached, a dry-goods dealer of whom my sister
+had made some purchases a few months before. He seemed to recognize her
+and he asked her in German if she were not Miss Aaronsohn. I felt my
+blood leave my face, and, looking him straight in the eye, I whispered,
+"If you say one word more, you will be a dead man; so help me God!" He
+must have felt that I meant exactly what I said, for he walked off
+mumbling unintelligibly.
+
+At last the boat got away, and five minutes later we were mounting the
+side of the Des Moines. Throngs of refugees covered the decks of the
+cruiser. Their faces showed tension and anxiety. Their presence there
+seemed too good to be true, and all awaited the moment when the ship
+should heave anchor. A Filipino sailor showed us about, and as he spoke
+Italian, I told him I wanted to be hidden somewhere till the ship got
+under way. I felt that even yet we were not entirely safe. That my fears
+were justified I discovered shortly, when from our hiding-place I saw
+the shopkeeper approaching in a small boat with a Turkish officer. They
+looked over all the refugees on the deck, but searched for us in vain.
+After a half-hour more of uncomfortable tension the engines began to
+sputter, the propellers revolved, and--we were safe!
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER]
+
+The day was dying and a beautiful twilight softened the outlines of the
+Lebanon and the houses of Beirut. The Mediterranean lay quiet and
+peaceful around us, and the healthy, sturdy American sailors gave a
+feeling of confidence. As the cruiser drew out of the harbor, a great
+cry of farewell arose from the refugees on board, a cry in which was
+mingled the relief of being free, anguish at leaving behind parents and
+friends, fear and hope for the future. A little later the sailors were
+lined up in arms to salute the American flag when it was lowered for the
+night. Moved by a powerful instinct of love and respect, all the
+refugees jumped to their feet, the men bareheaded and the women with
+folded hands, and in that moment I understood as I had never understood
+before the real sacred meaning of a flag. To all those people standing
+in awe about that piece of cloth bearing the stars and stripes America
+was an incarnation of love universal, of freedom and salvation.
+
+The cool Syrian night, our first night on the cruiser, was spent in
+songs, hymns, and conversation. We were all too excited to sleep.
+Friends discovered friends and tales of woe were exchanged, stories of
+hardship, injustice, oppression, all of which ended with mutual
+congratulations on escaping from the clutches of the Turks.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn
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+Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn
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+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
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+Title: With the Turks in Palestine
+
+Author: Alexander Aaronsohn
+
+Release Date: November 30, 2003 [EBook #10338]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE ***
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+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Steven desJardins and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
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+</pre>
+
+<h1>WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE</h1>
+<h2>BY ALEXANDER AARONSOHN</h2>
+<center><i>With Illustrations</i></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments -->
+ <a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img01.png"><img src="images/img01t.png" width="30%" alt="Djemal Pasha"></a></center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>1916</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>TO MY MOTHER</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>WHO LIVED AND FOUGHT AND DIED FOR A REGENERATED
+PALESTINE</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>ACKNOWLEDGMENT</center>
+<p>To the editors of the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, to the
+publishers, and to the many friends who have encouraged me, I am
+and shall ever remain grateful</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr>
+<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<pre>
+<a href="#INT">INTRODUCTION</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH1">I. ZICRON-JACOB</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH2">II. PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH3">III. THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH4">IV. ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH5">V. THE HIDDEN ARMS</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH6">VI. THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH7">VII. FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH8">VIII. THE LEBANON</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH9">IX. A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH10">X. A RASH ADVENTURE</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#CH11">XI. ESCAPE</a>
+</pre>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="ILL"><!-- ILL --></a>
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-1">DJEMAL PASHA</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-2">THE CEMETERY OF ZICRON-JACOB</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-3">SAFF&Ecirc;D</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-4">THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, in March, 1911</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-5">SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-6">NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href=
+"#image-7">HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN,
+ IN ZICRON-JACOB</a>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-8">IN A NATIVE CAF&Eacute;, SAFF&Ecirc;D</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-8">A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href=
+"#image-9">RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-9">CAMELS BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-10">THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-11">HAIFA</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-12">HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM
+MOUNT CARMEL</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-13">THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-14">STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA</a>
+  <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href="#image-15">THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR</a>
+  <i>Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald in March, 1914</i>
+</pre>
+<pre>
+<a href=
+"#image-16">BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER</a>
+   <i>Photograph by Underwood &amp; Underwood</i>
+</pre>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="INT"><!-- INT --></a>
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+<p>While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and
+dreams of liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there
+is a little country the soul of which is torn to pieces&mdash;a
+little country that is so remote, so remote that her ardent sighs
+cannot be heard.</p>
+<p>It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw
+Abraham build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his
+only son, the country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in
+beauty and loveliness,&mdash;a land of promise never to be
+attained,&mdash;the country that gave the world its symbols of soul
+and spirit. Palestine!</p>
+<p>No war correspondents, no Red Cross or relief committees have
+gone to Palestine, because no actual fighting has taken place
+there, and yet hundreds of thousands are suffering there that worst
+of agonies, the agony of the spirit.</p>
+<p>Those who have devoted their lives to show the world that
+Palestine can be made again a country flowing with milk and honey,
+those who have dreamed of reviving the spirit of the prophets and
+the great teachers, are hanged and persecuted and exiled, their
+dreams shattered, their holy places profaned, their work ruined.
+Cut off from the world, with no bread to sustain the starving body,
+the heavy boot of a barbarian soldiery trampling their very soul,
+the dreamers of Palestine refuse to surrender, and amidst the clash
+of guns and swords they are battling for the spirit with the
+weapons of the spirit.</p>
+<p>The time has not yet come to write the record of these battles,
+nor even to attempt to render justice to the sublime heroes of
+Palestine. This book is merely the story of some of the personal
+experiences of one who has done less and suffered less than
+thousands of his comrades.</p>
+<center>ALEXANDER AARONSOHN</center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a>
+<h2>WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE.</h2>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<center>ZICRON-JACOB</center>
+<p>Thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been
+organized as the Zionist Movement led my parents to leave their
+homes in Roumania and emigrate to Palestine, where they joined a
+number of other Jewish pioneers in founding Zicron-Jacob&mdash;a
+little village lying just south of Mount Carmel, in that fertile
+coastal region close to the ancient Plains of Armageddon.</p>
+<p>Here I was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and
+harmony of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed
+stone houses huddled close together for protection against the
+native Arabs who, at first, menaced the life of the new colony. The
+village was far more suggestive of Switzerland than of the
+conventional slovenly villages of the East, mud-built and filthy;
+for while it was the purpose of our people, in returning to the
+Holy Land, to foster the Jewish language and the social conditions
+of the Old Testament as far as possible, there was nothing
+retrograde in this movement. No time was lost in introducing
+progressive methods of agriculture, and the climatological
+experiments of other countries were observed and made use of in
+developing the ample natural resources of the land.</p>
+<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img02.png">
+<img src="images/img02t.png" width="30%" alt="The Cemetery of Zicron-Jacob">
+</a></center>
+<p>Eucalyptus, imported from Australia, soon gave the shade of its
+cool, healthful foliage where previously no trees had grown. In the
+course of time dry farming (which some people consider a recent
+discovery, but which in reality is as old as the Old Testament) was
+introduced and extended with American agricultural implements;
+blooded cattle were imported, and poultry-raising on a large scale
+was undertaken with the aid of incubators&mdash;to the disgust of
+the Arabs, who look on such usurpation of the hen's functions as
+against nature and sinful. Our people replaced the wretched native
+trails with good roads, bordered by hedges of thorny acacia which,
+in season, were covered with downy little yellow blossoms that
+smelled sweeter than honey when the sun was on them.</p>
+<p>More important than all these, a communistic village government
+was established, in which both sexes enjoyed equal rights,
+including that of suffrage&mdash;strange as this may seem to
+persons who (when they think of the matter at all) form vague
+conceptions of all the women-folk of Palestine as shut up in
+harems.</p>
+<p>A short experience with Turkish courts and Turkish justice
+taught our people that they would have to establish a legal system
+of their own; two collaborating judges were therefore
+appointed&mdash;one to interpret the Mosaic law, another to temper
+it with modern jurisprudence. All Jewish disputes were settled by
+this court. Its effectiveness may be judged by the fact that the
+Arabs, weary of Turkish venality,&mdash;as open and shameless as
+anywhere in the world,&mdash;began in increasing numbers to bring
+their difficulties to our tribunal. Jews are law-abiding people,
+and life in those Palestine colonies tended to bring out the
+fraternal qualities of our race; but it is interesting to note that
+in over thirty years not one Jewish criminal case was reported from
+forty-five villages.</p>
+<p>Zicron-Jacob was a little town of one hundred and thirty
+"fires"&mdash;so we call it&mdash;when, in 1910, on the advice of
+my elder brother, who was head of the Jewish Experiment Station at
+Athlit, an ancient town of the Crusaders, I left for America to
+enter the service of the United States in the Department of
+Agriculture. A few days after reaching this country I took out my
+first naturalization papers and proceeded to Washington, where I
+became part of that great government service whose beneficent
+activity is too little known by Americans. Here I remained until
+June, 1913, when I returned to Palestine with the object of taking
+motion-pictures and stereopticon views. These I intended to use in
+a lecturing tour for spreading the Zionist propaganda in the United
+States.</p>
+<p>During the years of my residence in America, I was able to
+appreciate and judge in their right value the beauty and
+inspiration of the life which my people led in the Holy Land. From
+a distance, too, I saw better the need for organization among our
+communities, and I determined to build up a fraternal union of the
+young Jewish men all over the country.</p>
+<p>Two months after my return from America, an event occurred which
+gave impetus to these projects. The physician of our village, an
+old man who had devoted his entire life to serving and healing the
+people of Palestine, without distinction of race or religion, was
+driving home one evening in his carriage from a neighboring
+settlement. With him was a young girl of sixteen. In a deserted
+place they were set upon by four armed Arabs, who beat the old man
+to unconsciousness as he tried, in vain, to defend the girl from
+the terrible fate which awaited her.</p>
+<p>Night came on. Alarmed by the absence of the physician, we young
+men rode out in search of him. We finally discovered what had
+happened; and then and there, in the serene moonlight of that
+Eastern night, with tragedy close at hand, I made my comrades take
+oath on the honor of their sisters to organize themselves into a
+strong society for the defense of the life and honor of our
+villagers and of our people at large.</p>
+<p>These details are, perhaps, useful for the better understanding
+of the disturbances that came thick and fast when in August, 1914,
+the war-madness broke out among the nations of Europe. The
+repercussion was at once felt even in our remote corner of the
+earth. Soon after the German invasion of Belgium the Turkish army
+was mobilized and all citizens of the Empire between nineteen and
+forty-five years were called to the colors. As the Young Turk
+Constitution of 1909 provided that all Christians and Jews were
+equally liable to military service, our young men knew that they,
+too, would be called upon to make the common sacrifice. For the
+most part, they were not unwilling to sustain the Turkish
+Government. While the Constitution imposed on them the burden of
+militarism, it had brought with it the compensation of freedom of
+religion and equal rights; and we could not forget that for six
+hundred years Turkey has held her gates wide open to the Jews who
+fled from the Spanish Inquisition and similar ministrations of
+other civilized countries.</p>
+<p>Of course, we never dreamed that Turkey would do anything but
+remain neutral. If we had had any idea of the turn things were
+ultimately to take, we should have given a different greeting to
+the <i>mouchtar</i>, or sheriff, who came to our village with the
+list of mobilizable men to be called on for service. My own
+position was a curious one. I had every intention of completing the
+process of becoming an American citizen, which I had begun by
+taking out "first papers." In the eyes of the law, however, I was
+still a Turkish subject, with no claim to American protection. This
+was sneeringly pointed out to me by the American Consul at Haifa,
+who happens to be a German; so there was no other course but to
+surrender myself to the Turkish Government.</p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<center>PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE</center>
+<p>There was no question as to my eligibility for service. I was
+young and strong and healthy&mdash;and even if I had not been, the
+physical examination of Turkish recruits is a farce. The enlisting
+officers have a theory of their own that no man is really unfit for
+the army&mdash;a theory which has been fostered by the ingenious
+devices of the Arabs to avoid conscription. To these wild people
+the protracted discipline of military training is simply a
+purgatory, and for weeks before the recruiting officers are due,
+they dose themselves with powerful herbs and physics and fast, and
+nurse sores into being, until they are in a really deplorable
+condition. Some of them go so far as to cut off a finger or two.
+The officers, however, have learned to see beyond these little
+tricks, and few Arabs succeed in wriggling through their drag-net.
+I have watched dozens of Arabs being brought in to the recruiting
+office on camels or horses, so weak were they, and welcomed into
+the service with a severe beating&mdash;the sick and the shammers
+sharing the same fate. Thus it often happens that some of the new
+recruits die after their first day of garrison life.</p>
+<p>Together with twenty of my comrades, I presented myself at the
+recruiting station at Acco (the St. Jean d'Acre of history). We had
+been given to understand that, once our names were registered, we
+should be allowed to return home to provide ourselves with money,
+suitable clothing, and food, as well as to bid our families
+good-bye. To our astonishment, however, we were marched off to the
+H&acirc;n, or caravanserai, and locked into the great courtyard
+with hundreds of dirty Arabs. Hour after hour passed; darkness
+came, and finally we had to stretch ourselves on the ground and
+make the best of a bad situation. It was a night of horrors. Few of
+us had closed an eye when, at dawn, an officer appeared and ordered
+us out of the H&acirc;n. From our total number about three hundred
+(including four young men from our village and myself) were picked
+out and told to make ready to start at once for Saff&ecirc;d, a
+town in the hills of northern Galilee near the Sea of Tiberias,
+where our garrison was to be located. No attention was paid to our
+requests that we be allowed to return to our homes for a final
+visit. That same morning we were on our way to Saff&ecirc;d&mdash;a
+motley, disgruntled crew.</p>
+<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img03.png">
+<img src="images/img03t.png" width="30%" alt="Saff&ecirc;d">
+</a></center>
+<p>It was a four days' march&mdash;four days of heat and dust and
+physical suffering. The September sun smote us mercilessly as we
+straggled along the miserable native trail, full of gullies and
+loose stones. It would not have been so bad if we had been
+adequately shod or clothed; but soon we found ourselves envying the
+ragged Arabs as they trudged along barefoot, paying no heed to the
+jagged flints. (Shoes, to the Arab, are articles for ceremonious
+indoor use; when any serious walking is to be done, he takes them
+off, slings them over his shoulder, and trusts to the horny soles
+of his feet.)</p>
+<p>To add to our troubles, the Turkish officers, with
+characteristic fatalism, had made no commissary provision for us
+whatever. Any food we ate had to be purchased by the roadside from
+our own funds, which were scant enough to start with. The Arabs
+were in a terrible plight. Most of them were penniless, and, as the
+pangs of hunger set in, they began pillaging right and left from
+the little farms by the wayside. From modest
+beginnings&mdash;poultry and vegetables&mdash;they progressed to
+larger game, unhindered by the officers. Houses were entered, women
+insulted; time and again I saw a stray horse, grazing by the
+roadside, seized by a crowd of grinning Arabs, who piled on the
+poor beast's back until he was almost crushed to earth, and rode
+off triumphantly, while their comrades held back the weeping owner.
+The result of this sort of "requisitioning," was that our band of
+recruits was followed by an increasing throng of
+farmers&mdash;imploring, threatening, trying by hook or by crook to
+win back the stolen goods. Little satisfaction did they get,
+although some of them went with us as far as Saff&ecirc;d.</p>
+<p>Our garrison town is not an inviting place, nor has it an
+inviting reputation. Lord Kitchener himself had good reason to
+remember it. As a young lieutenant of twenty-three, in the Royal
+Engineering Corps, he was nearly killed there by a band of
+fanatical Arabs while surveying for the Palestine Exploration Fund.
+Kitchener had a narrow escape of it (one of his fellow officers was
+shot dead close by him), but he went calmly ahead and completed his
+maps, splendid large-scale affairs which have never since been
+equaled&mdash;and which are now in use by the Turkish and German
+armies! However, though Saff&ecirc;d combines most of the
+unpleasant characteristics of Palestine native towns, we welcomed
+the sight of it, for we were used up by the march. An old deserted
+mosque was given us for barracks; there, on the bare stone floor,
+in close-packed promiscuity, too tired to react to filth and
+vermin, we spent our first night as soldiers of the Sultan, while
+the milky moonlight streamed in through every chink and aperture,
+and bats flitted round the vaulting above the snoring carcasses of
+the recruits.</p>
+<p>Next morning we were routed out at five. The black depths of the
+well in the center of the mosque courtyard provided doubtful water
+for washing, bathing, and drinking; then came breakfast,&mdash;our
+first government meal,&mdash;consisting, simply enough, of boiled
+rice, which was ladled out into tin wash-basins holding rations for
+ten men. In true Eastern fashion we squatted down round the basin
+and dug into the rice with our fingers. At first I was rather upset
+by this sort of table manners, and for some time I ate with my eyes
+fixed on my own portion, to avoid seeing the Arabs, who fill the
+palms of their hands with rice, pat it into a ball and cram it into
+their mouths just so, the bolus making a great lump in their lean
+throats as it reluctantly descends.</p>
+<p>In the course of that same morning we were allotted our
+uniforms. The Turkish uniform, under indirect German influence, has
+been greatly modified during the past five years. It is of
+khaki&mdash;a greener khaki than that of the British army, and of
+conventional European cut. Spiral puttees and good boots are
+provided; the only peculiar feature is the headgear&mdash;a
+curious, uncouth-looking combination of the turban and the German
+helmet, devised by Enver Pasha to combine religion and
+practicality, and called in his honor <i>enverieh</i>. (With
+commendable thrift, Enver patented his invention, and it is rumored
+that he has drawn a comfortable fortune from its sale.) An
+excellent uniform it is, on the whole; but, to our disgust, we
+found that in the great olive-drab pile to which we were led, there
+was not a single new one. All were old, discarded, and dirty, and
+the mere thought of putting on the clothes of some unknown Arab
+legionary, who, perhaps, had died of cholera at Mecca or Yemen,
+made me shudder. After some indecision, my friends and I finally
+went up to one of the officers and offered to <i>buy</i> new
+uniforms with the money we expected daily from our families. The
+officer, scenting the chance for a little private profit, gave his
+consent.</p>
+<p>The days and weeks following were busy ones. From morning till
+night, it was drill, drill, and again drill. We were divided into
+groups of fifty, each of which was put in charge of a young
+non-commissioned officer from the Military School of Constantinople
+or Damascus, or of some Arab who had seen several years' service.
+These instructors had a hard time of it; the German military
+system, which had only recently been introduced, was too much for
+them. They kept mixing up the old and the new methods of training,
+with the result that it was often hopeless to try and make out
+their orders. Whole weeks were spent in grinding into the Arabs the
+names of the different parts of the rifle; weeks more went to
+teaching them to clean it&mdash;although it must be said that, once
+they had mastered these technicalities, they were excellent shots.
+Their efficiency would have been considerably greater if there had
+been more target-shooting. From the very first, however, we felt
+that there was a scarcity of ammunition. This shortage the
+drill-masters, in a spirit of compensation, attempted to make up by
+abundant severity. The whip of soft, flexible, stinging leather,
+which seldom leaves the Turkish officer's hand, was never idle.
+This was not surprising, for the Arab is a cunning fellow, whose
+only respect is for brute force. He exercises it himself on every
+possible victim, and expects the same treatment from his
+superiors.</p>
+<p>So far as my comrades and I were concerned, I must admit that we
+were generally treated kindly. We knew most of the drill-exercises
+from the gymnastic training we had practiced since childhood, and
+the officers realized that we were educated and came from
+respectable families. The same was also true with regard to the
+native Christians, most of whom can read and write and are of a
+better class than the Mohammedans of the country. When Turkey threw
+in her lot with the Germanic powers, the attitude toward the Jews
+and Christians changed radically; but of this I shall speak
+later.</p>
+<p>It was a hard life we led while in training at Saff&ecirc;d;
+evening would find us dead tired, and little disposed for anything
+but rest. As the tremendous light-play of the Eastern sunsets faded
+away, we would gather in little groups in the courtyard of our
+mosque&mdash;its minaret towering black against a turquoise
+sky&mdash;and talk fitfully of the little happenings of the day,
+while the Arabs murmured gutturally around us. Occasionally, one of
+them would burst into a quavering, hot-blooded tribal love-song. It
+happened that I was fairly well known among these natives through
+my horse Kochba&mdash;of pure Maneghi-Sbeli blood&mdash;which I had
+purchased from some Anazzi Bedouins who were encamped not far from
+Aleppo: a swift and intelligent animal he was, winner of many
+races, and in a land where a horse is considerably more valuable
+than a wife, his ownership cast quite a glamour over me.</p>
+<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img04.png">
+<img src="images/img04t.png" width="30%" alt="The Author on His Horse Kochba">
+</a></center>
+<p>In the evenings, then, the Arabs would come up to chat. As they
+speak seldom of their children, of their women-folk never, the
+conversation was limited to generalities about the crops and the
+weather, or to the recitation of never-ending tales of Abou-Zeid,
+the famous hero of the Beni-Hilal, or of Antar the glorious.
+Politics, of which they have amazing ideas, also came in for
+discussion. Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Victoria are still living
+figures to them; but (significantly enough) they considered the
+Kaiser king of all the kings of this world, with the exception of
+the Sultan, whom they admitted to equality.</p>
+<p>Seldom did an evening pass without a dance. As darkness fell,
+the Arabs would gather in a great circle around one of their
+comrades, who squatted on the ground with a bamboo flute; to a
+weird minor music they would begin swaying and moving about while
+some self-chosen poet among them would sing impromptu verses to the
+flute <i>obbligato</i>. As a rule the themes were homely.</p>
+<p>"To-morrow we shall eat rice and meat," the singer would
+wail.</p>
+<p>"<i>Yaha lili-amali"</i> (my endeavor be granted), came the
+full-throated response of all the others. The chorus was
+tremendously effective. Sometimes the singer would indulge in
+pointed personalities, with answering roars of laughter.</p>
+<p>These dances lasted for hours, and as they progressed the men
+gradually worked themselves up into a frenzy. I never failed to
+wonder at these people, who, without the aid of alcohol, could
+reproduce the various stages of intoxication. As I lay by and
+watched the moon riding serenely above these frantic men and their
+twisting black shadows, I reflected that they were just in the
+condition when one word from a holy man would suffice to send them
+off to wholesale murder and rapine.</p>
+<p>It was my good fortune soon to be released from the noise and
+dirt of the mosque. I had had experience with corruptible Turkish
+officers; and one day, when barrack conditions became unendurable,
+I went to the officer commanding our division&mdash;an old Arab
+from Latakieh who had been called from retirement at the time of
+the mobilization. He lived in a little tent near the mosque, where
+I found him squatting on the floor, nodding drowsily over his
+comfortable paunch. As he was an officer of the old r&eacute;gime,
+I entered boldly, squatted beside him and told him my troubles. The
+answer came with an enormous shrug of the shoulders.</p>
+<p>"You are serving the Sultan. Hardship should be sweet!"</p>
+<p>"I should be more fit to serve him if I got more sleep and
+rest."</p>
+<p>He waved a fat hand about the tent.</p>
+<p>"Look at me! Here I am, an officer of rank and"&mdash;shooting a
+knowing look at me&mdash;"I have not even a nice blanket."</p>
+<p>"A crime! A crime!" I interrupted. "To think of it, when I, a
+humble soldier, have dozens of them at home! I should be honored if
+you would allow me&mdash;" My voice trailed off suggestively.</p>
+<p>"How could you get one?" he asked.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I have friends here in Saff&ecirc;d but I <i>must</i> be
+able to sleep in a nice place."</p>
+<p>"Of course; certainly. What would you suggest?"</p>
+<p>"That hotel kept by the Jewish widow might do," I replied.</p>
+<p>More amenities were exchanged, the upshot of which was that my
+four friends and I were given permission to sleep at the
+inn&mdash;a humble place, but infinitely better than the mosque. It
+was all perfectly simple.</p>
+<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img05.png">
+<img src="images/img05t.png" width="30%" alt="Soldiers' Tents in Samaria">
+</a></center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<center>THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA</center>
+<p>So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until
+the fateful December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt
+that Turkey was about to join hands with Germany. We had had
+reports of the war&mdash;of a kind. Copies of telegrams from
+Constantinople, printed in Arabic, were circulated among us, giving
+accounts of endless German victories. These, however, we had
+laughed at as fabrications of a Prussophile press agency, and in
+our skepticism we had failed to give the Teutons credit for the
+successes they had actually won. To us, born and bred in the East
+as we were, the success of German propaganda in the Turkish Empire
+could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its fullness amazed
+us.</p>
+<p>It may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding
+this propaganda as I have seen it in Palestine, spreading under
+strong and efficient organization for twenty years.</p>
+<p>In order to realize her imperialistic dreams, Germany absolutely
+needed Palestine. It was the key to the whole Oriental situation.
+No mere coincidence brought the Kaiser to Damascus in November,
+1898,&mdash;the same month that Kitchener, in London, was hailed as
+Gordon's avenger,&mdash;when he uttered his famous phrase at the
+tomb of Saladin: "Tell the three hundred million Moslems of the
+world that I am their friend!" We have all seen photographs of the
+imperial figure, draped in an amazing burnous of his own designing
+(above which the Prussian <i>Pickelhaube</i> rises supreme), as he
+moved from point to point in this portentous visit: we may also
+have seen Caran d'Ache's celebrated cartoon (a subject of
+diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial figure,
+in its Oriental toggery, riding into Jerusalem on an ass.</p>
+<p>The nations of Europe laughed at this visit and its transparent
+purpose, but it was all part of the scheme which won for the
+Germans the concessions for the Konia-Bagdad Railway, and made them
+owners of the double valley of the Euphrates and Tigris. Through
+branch lines projected through the firman, they are practically in
+control of both the Syrian routes toward the Cypriotic
+Mediterranean and the Lebanon valleys. They also control the three
+Armenian routes of Cappadocia, the Black Sea, and the
+trans-Caucasian branch of Urfa, Marach, and Mardine. (The fall of
+Erzerum has altered conditions respecting this last.) They dominate
+the Persian routes toward Tauris and Teheran as well; and last, but
+not least, the Gulf branch of Zobeir. These railways delivered into
+German hands the control of Persia, whence the road to India may be
+made easy: through Syria lies the route to the Suez Canal and
+Egypt, which was used in February, 1915, and will probably be used
+again this year.</p>
+<p>To make this Oriental dream a reality, the Germans have not
+relied on their railway concessions alone. Their Government has
+done everything in its power to encourage German colonization in
+Palestine. Scattered all over the country are German mills that
+half of the time have nothing to grind. German hotels have been
+opened in places seldom frequented by tourists. German engineers
+appeared in force, surveying, sounding, noting. All these colonists
+held gatherings in the Arab villages, when the ignorant natives
+were told of the greatness of Germany, of her good intentions, and
+of the evil machinations of other powers. What I state here can be
+corroborated by any one who knows Palestine and has lived in
+it.</p>
+<p>About the time when we first knew that Turkey would join the
+Germanic powers came the news that the "Capitulations" had been
+revoked. As is generally known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the
+protection of their respective consuls. The Turkish Government,
+under the terms of the so-called Capitulations, or agreements, had
+no jurisdiction over an American, for instance, or a Frenchman, who
+could not be arrested without the consent of his consul. In the
+Ottoman Empire, where law and justice are not at a premium, such
+protection was a wholesome and necessary policy.</p>
+<p>The revoking of the Capitulations was a terrible blow to all the
+Europeans, meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their
+rights. Upon the Arabs it acted like an intoxicant. Every
+boot-black or boatman felt that he was the equal of the accursed
+Frank, who now had no consul to protect him; and abuses began
+immediately. Moreover, as if by magic, the whole country became
+Germanized. In all the mosques, Friday prayers were ended with an
+invocation for the welfare of the Sultan and "Hadji Wilhelm." The
+significance of this lies in the fact that the title "Hadji" can be
+properly applied only to a Moslem who has made the pilgrimage to
+Mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the Kaaba. Instant death is
+the penalty paid by any Christian who is found within that
+enclosure: yet Wilhelm II, head of the Lutheran faith, stepped
+forward as "Hadji Wilhelm." His pictures were sold everywhere;
+German officers appeared; and it seemed as if a wind of brutal
+mastery were blowing.</p>
+<p>The dominant figure of this movement in Palestine was, without
+doubt, the German Consul at Haifa, Leutweld von Hardegg. He
+traveled about the country, making speeches, and distributing
+pamphlets in Arabic, in which it was elaborately proved that
+Germans are not Christians, like the French or English, but that
+they are descendants of the prophet Mohammed. Passages from the
+Koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of the Kaiser as the
+Savior of Islam.</p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<center>ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE</center>
+<p>The news of the actual declaration of war by Turkey caused a
+tremendous stir in our regiment. The prevailing feeling was one of
+great restlessness and discontent. The Arabs made many bitter
+remarks against Germany. "Why didn't she help us against the
+Italians during the war for Tripoli?" they said. "Now that she is
+in trouble she is drawing us into the fight." Their opinions,
+however, soon underwent a change. In the first place, they came to
+realize that Turkey had taken up arms against Russia; and Russia is
+considered first and foremost the arch-enemy. German reports of
+German successes also had a powerful effect on them. They began to
+grow boastful, arrogant; and the sight of the plundering of
+Europeans, Jews, and Christians convinced them that a very
+desirable r&eacute;gime was setting in. Saff&ecirc;d has a large
+Jewish colony, and it was torment for me to have to witness the
+outrages that my people suffered in the name of
+"requisitioning."</p>
+<p>The final blow came one morning when all the Jewish and
+Christian soldiers of our regiment were called out and told that
+henceforth they were to serve in the <i>taboor amlieh</i>, or
+working corps. The object of this action, plainly enough, was to
+conciliate and flatter the Mohammedan population, and at the same
+time to put the Jews and Christians, who for the most part favored
+the cause of the Allies, in a position where they would be least
+dangerous. We were disarmed; our uniforms were taken away, and we
+became hard-driven "gangsters." I shall never forget the
+humiliation of that day when we, who, after all, were the
+best-disciplined troops of the lot, were first herded to our work
+of pushing wheelbarrows and handling spades, by grinning Arabs,
+rifle on shoulder. We were set to building the road between
+Saff&ecirc;d and Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee&mdash;a link in
+the military highway from Damascus to the coast, which would be
+used for the movement of troops in case the railroad should be cut
+off. It had no immediate strategic bearing on the attack against
+Suez, however.</p>
+<p>From six in the morning till seven at night we were hard at it,
+except for one hour's rest at noon. While we had money, it was
+possible to get some slight relief by bribing our taskmasters; but
+this soon came to an end, and we had to endure their brutality as
+best we could. The wheelbarrows we used were the property of a
+French company which, before the war, was undertaking a highway to
+Beirut. No grease was provided for the wheels, so that there was a
+maddening squeaking and squealing in addition to the difficulty of
+pushing the barrows. One day I suggested to an inspection officer
+that if the wheels were not greased the axles would be burned out.
+He agreed with me and issued an order that the men were to provide
+their own oil to lubricate the wheels!</p>
+<p>I shall not dwell on the physical sufferings we underwent while
+working on this road, for the reason that the conditions I have
+described were prevalent over the whole country; and later, when I
+had the opportunity to visit some construction camps in Samaria and
+Judaea found that in comparison our lot had been a happy one. While
+we were breaking stones and trundling squeaking wheelbarrows,
+however, the most disquieting rumors began to drift in to us from
+our home villages. Plundering had been going on in the name of
+"requisitioning"; the country was full of soldiery whose capacity
+for mischief-making was well known to us, and it was torture to
+think of what might be happening in our peaceful homes where so few
+men had been left for protection. All the barbed-wire fences, we
+heard, had been torn up and sent north for the construction of
+barricades. In a wild land like Palestine, where the native has no
+respect for property, where fields and crops are always at the
+mercy of marauders, the barbed-wire fence has been a tremendous
+factor for civilization, and with these gone the Arabs were once
+more free to sweep across the country unhindered, stealing and
+destroying.</p>
+<p>The situation grew more and more unbearable. One day a little
+Christian soldier&mdash;a Nazarene&mdash;disappeared from the
+ranks. We never saw him again, but we learned that his sister, a
+very young girl, had been forcibly taken by a Turkish officer of
+the Nazareth garrison. In Palestine, the dishonor of a girl can be
+redeemed by blood alone. The young soldier had hunted for his
+sister, found her in the barracks, and shot her; he then
+surrendered himself to the military authorities, who undoubtedly
+put him to death. He had not dared to kill the real
+criminal,&mdash;the officer,&mdash;for he knew that this would not
+only bring death to his family, but would call down terrible
+suffering on all the Christians of Nazareth.</p>
+<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img06.png">
+<img src="images/img06t.png" width="30%" alt="Nazareth, from the Northeast">
+</a></center>
+<p>When I learned of this tragedy, I determined to get out of the
+army and return to my village at all costs. Nine Turkish officers
+out of ten can be bought, and I had reason to know that the officer
+in command at Saff&ecirc;d was not that tenth man. Now, according
+to the law of the country, a man has the right to purchase
+exemption from military service for a sum equivalent to two hundred
+dollars. My case was different, for I was already enrolled; but
+everything is possible in Turkey. I set to work, and in less than
+two weeks I had bought half a dozen officers, ranging from corporal
+to captain, and had obtained consent of the higher authorities to
+my departure, provided I could get a physician's certificate
+declaring me unfit for service.</p>
+<p>This was arranged in short order, although I am healthy-looking
+and the doctor found some difficulty in hitting on an appropriate
+ailment. Finally he decided that I had "too much
+blood"&mdash;whatever that might mean. With his certificate in
+hand, I paid the regular price of two hundred dollars from funds
+which had been sent me by my family, and walked out of the barracks
+a free man. My happiness was mingled with sadness at the thought of
+leaving the comrades with whom I had suffered and hoped. The four
+boys from my village were splendid. They felt that I was right in
+going home to do what I could for the people, but when they kissed
+me good-bye, in the Eastern fashion, the tears were running down
+their cheeks; and they were all strong, brave fellows.</p>
+<p>On my way back to Zicron-Jacob, I passed through the town of
+Sheff'amr, where I got a foretaste of the conditions I was to find
+at home. A Turkish soldier, sauntering along the street, helped
+himself to fruit from the basket of an old vender, and went on
+without offering to pay a farthing. When the old man ventured to
+protest, the soldier turned like a flash and began beating him
+mercilessly, knocking him down and battering him until he was
+bruised, bleeding, and covered with the mud of the street. There
+was a hubbub; a crowd formed, through which a Turkish officer
+forced his way, demanding explanations. The soldier sketched the
+situation in a few words, whereupon the officer, turning to the old
+man, said impressively,&mdash;"If a soldier of the Sultan should
+choose to heap filth on your head, it is for you to kiss his hand
+in gratitude."</p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<center>THE HIDDEN ARMS</center>
+<p>When I finally reached Zicron-Jacob, I found rather a sad state
+of affairs. Military law had been declared. No one was supposed to
+be seen in the streets after sundown. The village was full of
+soldiers, and civilians had to put up with all kinds of
+ill-treatment. Moreover, our people were in a state of great
+excitement because an order had recently come from the Turkish
+authorities bidding them surrender whatever fire-arms or weapons
+they had in their possession. A sinister command, this: we knew
+that similar measures had been taken before the terrible Armenian
+massacres, and we felt that some such fate might be in preparation
+for our people. With the arms gone, the head men of the village
+knew that our last hold over the Arabs, our last chance for defense
+against sudden violence, would be gone, and they had refused to
+give them up. A house-to-house search had been
+made&mdash;fruitlessly, for our little arsenal was safely cached in
+a field, beneath growing grain.</p>
+<p>It was a tense, unpleasant situation. At any time the Turks
+might decide to back up their demand by some of the violent methods
+of which they are past masters. A family council was held in my
+home, and it was decided to send my sister, a girl of twenty-three,
+to some friends at the American Syrian Protestant College at
+Beirut, so that we might be able to move freely without the
+responsibility of having a girl at home, in a country where, as a
+matter of course, the women-folk are seized and carried off before
+a massacre. At Beirut we knew that there was an American
+Consul-General, who kept in continual touch with the battleship
+anchored in the harbor for the protection of American
+interests.</p>
+<p>My sister got away none too soon. One evening shortly after her
+departure, when I was standing in the doorway of our house watching
+the ever fresh miracle of the Eastern sunset, a Turkish officer
+came riding down the street with about thirty cavalrymen. He called
+me out and ordered me to follow him to the little village inn,
+where he dismounted and led me to one of the inner rooms, his spurs
+jingling loudly as we passed along the stone corridor.</p>
+<p>I never knew whether I had been selected for this attention
+because of my prominence as a leader of the Jewish young men or
+simply because I had been standing conveniently in the doorway. The
+officer closed the door and came straight to the point by asking me
+where our store of arms was hidden. He was a big fellow, with the
+handsome, cruel features usual enough in his class. There was no
+open menace in his first question. When I refused to tell him, he
+began wheedling and offering all sorts of favors if I would betray
+my people. Then, all of a sudden, he whipped out a revolver and
+stuck the muzzle right in my face. I felt the blood leave my heart,
+but I was able to control myself and refuse his demand. The officer
+was not easily discouraged; the hours I passed in that little room,
+with its smoky kerosene lamp, were terrible ones. I realized,
+however, how tremendously important the question of the arms was,
+and strength was given me to hold out until the officer gave up in
+disgust and let me go home.</p>
+<a name="image-7"><!-- Image 7 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img07.png">
+<img src="images/img07t.png" width="30%" alt="House of the Author's Father, Ephraim Fishl Aaronsohn, in Zicron-Jacob">
+</a></center>
+<p>My father, an old man, knew nothing of what had happened, but
+the rest of my family were tremendously excited. I made light of
+the whole affair, but I felt sure that this was only the beginning.
+Sure enough, next morning&mdash;the Sabbath&mdash;the same officer
+returned and put three of the leading elders of the village,
+together with myself, under arrest. After another fruitless
+inquisition at the hotel, we were handcuffed and started on foot
+toward the prison, a day's journey away. As our little procession
+passed my home, my father, who was aged and feeble, came tottering
+forward to say good-bye to me. A soldier pushed him roughly back;
+he reeled, then fell full-length in the street before my eyes.</p>
+<p>It was a dismal departure. We were driven through the streets
+shackled like criminals, and the women and children came out of the
+houses and watched us in silence&mdash;their heads bowed, tears
+running down their cheeks. They realized that for thirty-five years
+these old men, my comrades, had been struggling and suffering for
+their ideal&mdash;a regenerated Palestine; now, in the dusk of
+their life, it seemed as if all their hopes and dreams were coming
+to ruin. The oppressive tragedy of the situation settled down on me
+more and more heavily as the day wore on and heat and fatigue told
+on my companions. My feelings must have been written large on my
+face, for one of them, a fine-looking patriarch, tried to give me
+comfort by reminding me that we must not rely upon strength of
+arms, and that our spirit could never be broken, no matter how
+defenseless we were. Thus he, an old man, was encouraging me
+instead of receiving help from my youth and enthusiasm.</p>
+<p>At last we arrived at the prison and were locked into separate
+cells. That same night we were tortured with the <i>falagy</i>, or
+bastinado. The victim of this horrible punishment is trussed up,
+arms and legs, and thrown on his knees; then, on the bare soles of
+his feet a pliant green rod is brought down with all the force of a
+soldier's arm. The pain is exquisite; blood leaps out at the first
+cut, and strong men usually faint after thirty or forty strokes.
+Strange to say, the worst part of it is not the blow itself, but
+the whistling of the rod through the air as it rushes to its mark.
+The groans of my older comrades, whose gasps and prayers I could
+hear through the walls of the cell, helped me bear the agony until
+unconsciousness mercifully came to the rescue.</p>
+<p>For several days more we were kept in the prison, sick and
+broken with suffering. The second night, as I lay sleepless and
+desperate on the strip of dirty matting that served as bed, I heard
+a scratch-scratching at the grated slit of a window, and presently
+a slender stick was inserted into the cell. I went over and shook
+it; some one at the other end was holding it firm. And then, a
+curious whispering sound began to come from the end of the stick. I
+put my ear down, and caught the voice of one of the men from our
+village. He had taken a long bamboo pole, pierced the joints, and
+crept up behind a broken old wall close beneath my window. By means
+of this primitive telephone we talked as long as we dared. I
+assured him that we were still enduring, and urged him on no
+account to give up the arms to the Turkish authorities&mdash;not
+even if we had to make the ultimate sacrifice.</p>
+<p>Finally, when it was found that torture and imprisonment would
+not make us yield our secret, the Turks resorted to the final
+test&mdash;the ordeal which we could not withstand. They announced
+that on a certain date a number of our young girls would be carried
+off and handed over to the officers, to be kept until the arms were
+disclosed. We knew that they were capable of carrying out this
+threat; we knew exactly what it meant. There was no alternative.
+The people of our village had nothing to do but dig up the
+treasured arms and, with broken hearts, hand them over to the
+authorities.</p>
+<p>And so the terrible news was brought to us one morning that we
+were free. Personally, I felt much happier on the day I was put in
+prison than when I was released. I had often wondered how our
+people had been able to bear the rack and thumbscrew of the Spanish
+Inquisition; but when my turn and my comrades' came for torture, I
+realized that the same spirit that helped our ancestors was working
+in us also.</p>
+<p>Now I knew that our suffering had been useless. Whenever the
+Turkish authorities wished, the horrors of the Armenian massacres
+would live again in Zicron-Jacob, and we should be powerless to
+raise a hand to protect ourselves. As we came limping home through
+the streets of our village, I caught sight of my own Smith &amp;
+Wesson revolver in the hands of a mere boy of fifteen&mdash;the son
+of a well-known Arab outlaw. I realized then that the Turks had not
+only taken our weapons, but had distributed them among the natives
+in order to complete our humiliation. The blood rushed to my face.
+I started forward to take the revolver away from the boy, but one
+of the old men caught hold of my sleeve and held me back.</p>
+<a name="image-8"><!-- Image 8 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img08.png">
+<img src="images/img08t.png" width="30%" alt="In a Native Caf&eacute;, Saff&ecirc;d/A Lemonade-Seller of Damascus">
+</a></center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<center>THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN</center>
+<p>I have already spoken of the so-called "requisitioning" that
+took place among our people while I was working at Saff&ecirc;d.
+This, of course, really amounted to wholesale pillage. The hand of
+the Turkish looters had fallen particularly heavy on carts and
+draught animals. As the Arabs know little or nothing of carting,
+hauling, or the management of horses and mules, the Turks, simply
+enough, had "requisitioned" many of the owners&mdash;middle-aged or
+elderly men&mdash;and forced them to go south to help along with
+the tremendous preparations that were being made for the attack on
+Suez. Among these were a number of men from our village. In the
+course of time their families began to get the most harrowing
+messages from them. They were absolutely destitute, no wages being
+paid them by the Turks; their clothes were dropping off them in
+rags; many were sick. After much excited planning, it was decided
+to send another man and myself down south on a sort of relief
+expedition, with a substantial sum of money that had been raised
+with great difficulty by our people. Through the influence of my
+brother at the Agricultural Experiment Station, I got permission
+from the <i>mouchtar</i> to leave Zicron-Jacob, and about the
+middle of January, 1915, I set out for Jerusalem.</p>
+<p>To Western minds, the idea of the Holy City serving as a base
+for modern military operations must be full of incongruities. And,
+as a matter of fact, it <i>was</i> an amazing sight to see the
+streets packed with khaki-clad soldiers and hear the brooding
+silence of ancient walls shattered by the crash of steel-shod army
+boots. Here, for the first time, I saw the German
+officers&mdash;quantities of them. Strangely out of place they
+looked, with their pink-and-whiteness that no amount of hot
+sunshine could quite burn off. They wore the regular German
+officer's uniform, except that the <i>Pickelhaube</i> was replaced
+by a khaki sun-helmet. I was struck by the youthfulness of them;
+many were nothing but boys, and there were weak, dissolute faces in
+plenty&mdash;a fact that was later explained when I heard that
+Palestine had been the dumping-ground for young men of high family
+whose parents were anxious to have them as far removed as possible
+from the danger zone. Fast's Hotel was the great meeting-place in
+Jerusalem for these young bloods. Every evening thirty or forty
+would foregather there to drink and talk women and strategy. I well
+remember the evening when one of them&mdash;a slender young
+Prussian with no back to his head, braceleted and
+monocled&mdash;rose and announced, in the decisive tones that go
+with a certain stage of intoxication: "What we ought to do is to
+hand over the organization of this campaign to Thomas Cook &amp;
+Sons!"</p>
+<p>However, the German officers were by no means all incompetents.
+They realized (I soon found out) that they had little hope of
+bringing a big army through the Egyptian desert and making a
+successful campaign there. Their object was to immobilize a great
+force of British troops around the Canal, to keep the Mohammedan
+population in Palestine impressed with Turkish power, and to stir
+up religious unrest among the natives in Egypt. It must be admitted
+that in the first two of these purposes they have been
+successful.</p>
+<p>The Turks were less far-sighted. They believed firmly that they
+were going to sweep the English off the face of the earth and enter
+Cairo in triumph, and preparations for the march on Suez went on
+with feverish enthusiasm. The ideas of the common soldiers on this
+subject were amusing. Some of them declared that the Canal was to
+be filled up by the sandbags which had been prepared in great
+quantities. Others held that thousands of camels would be kept
+without water for many days preceding the attack; then the thirsty
+animals, when released, would rush into the Canal in such numbers
+that the troops could march to victory over the packed masses of
+drowned bodies.</p>
+<p>The army operating against Suez numbered about one hundred and
+fifty thousand men. Of these about twenty thousand were Anatolian
+Turks&mdash;trained soldiers, splendid fighting material, as was
+shown by their resistance at the Dardanelles. The rest were
+Palestinian Arabs, and very inferior troops they were. The Arab as
+a soldier is at once stupid and cunning: fierce when victory is on
+his side, but unreliable when things go against him. In command of
+the expedition was the famous Djemal Pasha, a Young Turk general of
+tremendous energy, but possessing small ability to see beyond
+details to the big, broad concepts of strategy. Although a great
+friend of Enver Pasha, he looked with disfavor on the German
+officers and, in particular, on Bach Pasha, the German Governor of
+Jerusalem, with whom he had serious disagreements. This dislike of
+the Germans was reflected among the lesser Turkish officers. Many
+of these, after long years of service, found themselves
+subordinated to young foreigners, who, in addition to arbitrary
+promotion, received much higher salaries than the Turks. What is
+more, they were paid in clinking gold, whereas the Turks, when paid
+at all, got paper currency.</p>
+<p>Beersheba, a prosperous town of the ancient province of Idumea,
+was the southern base of operations for the advance on Suez. Some
+of our villagers had been sent to this district, and, in searching
+for them, I had the opportunity of seeing at least the taking-off
+place of the expedition. Beyond this point no Jew or Christian was
+allowed to pass, with the exception of the physicians, all of whom
+were non-Mohammedans who had been forced into the army.</p>
+<p>Beersheba was swarming with troops. They filled the town and
+overflowed on to the sands outside, where a great tent-city grew
+up. And everywhere that the Turkish soldiers went, disorganization
+and inefficiency followed them. From all over the country the
+finest camels had been "requisitioned" and sent down to Beersheba
+until, at the time I was there, thousands and thousands of them
+were collected in the neighborhood. Through the laziness and
+stupidity of the Turkish commissariat officers, which no amount of
+German efficiency could counteract, no adequate provision was made
+for feeding them, and incredible numbers succumbed to starvation
+and neglect. Their great carcasses dotted the sand in all
+directions; it was only the wonderful antiseptic power of the
+Eastern sun that held pestilence in check.</p>
+<p>The soldiers themselves suffered much hardship. The crowding in
+the tents was unspeakable; the water-supply was almost as
+inadequate as the medical service, which consisted chiefly of
+volunteer Red Crescent societies&mdash;among them a unit of twenty
+German nurses sent by the American College at Beirut. Medical
+supplies, such as they were, had been taken from the different
+mission hospitals and pharmacies of Palestine&mdash;these
+"requisitions" being made by officers who knew nothing of medical
+requirements and simply scooped together everything in sight. As a
+result, one of the army physicians told me that in Beersheba he had
+opened some medical chests consigned to him and found, to his
+horror, that they were full of microscopes and gynecological
+instruments&mdash;for the care of wounded soldiers in the
+desert!</p>
+<p>Visits of British aeroplanes to Beersheba were common
+occurrences. Long before the machine itself could be seen, its
+whanging, resonant hum would come floating out of the blazing sky,
+seemingly from everywhere at once. Soldiers rushed from their
+tents, squinting up into the heavens until the speck was
+discovered, swimming slowly through the air; then followed
+wholesale firing at an impossible range until the officers forbade
+it. True to the policy of avoiding all unnecessary harm to the
+natives, these British aviators never dropped bombs on the town,
+but&mdash;what was more dangerous from the Turkish point of
+view&mdash;they would unload packages of pamphlets, printed in
+Arabic, informing the natives that they were being deceived; that
+the Allies were their only true friends; that the Germans were
+merely making use of them to further their own schemes, etc. These
+cleverly worded little tracts came showering down out of the sky,
+and at first they were eagerly picked up. The Turkish commanders,
+however, soon announced that any one found carrying them would pay
+the death penalty. After that, when the little bundles dropped near
+them, the natives would, run as if from high explosive bombs.</p>
+<p>All things considered, it is wonderful that the Turkish
+demonstration against the Canal came as near to fulfillment as it
+did. Twenty thousand soldiers actually crossed the desert in six
+days on scant rations, and with them they took two big guns, which
+they dragged by hand when the mules dropped from thirst and
+exhaustion. They also carried pontoons to be used in crossing the
+Canal. Guns and pontoons are now at rest in the Museum at
+Cairo.</p>
+<p>Just what took place in the attack is known to very few. The
+English have not seen fit to make public the details, and there was
+little to be got from the demoralized soldiers who returned to
+Beersheba. Piece by piece, however, I gathered that the attacking
+party had come up to the Canal at dawn. Finding everything quiet,
+they set about getting across, and had even launched a pontoon,
+when the British, who were lying in wait, opened a terrific fire
+from the farther bank, backed by armored locomotives and
+aeroplanes. "It was as if the gates of Jehannum were opened and its
+fires turned loose upon us," one soldier told me.</p>
+<p>The Turks succeeded in getting their guns into action for a very
+short while. One of the men-of-war in the Canal was hit; several
+houses in Isma&iuml;lia suffered damage; but the invaders were soon
+driven away in confusion, leaving perhaps two thousand prisoners in
+the hands of the English. If the latter had chosen to do so, they
+could have annihilated the Turkish forces then and there. The
+ticklish state of mind of the Mohammedan population in Egypt,
+however, has led them to adopt a policy of leniency and of keeping
+to the defensive, which subsequent developments have more than
+justified. It is characteristic of England's faculty for holding
+her colonies that batteries manned by Egyptians did the finest work
+in defense of the Canal.</p>
+<p>The reaction in Palestine after the defeat at Suez was
+tremendous. Just before the attack, Djemal Pasha had sent out a
+telegram announcing the overwhelming defeat of the British
+vanguard, which had caused wild enthusiasm. Another later telegram
+proclaimed that the Canal had been reached, British men-of-war
+sunk, the Englishmen routed&mdash;with a loss to the Turks of five
+men and two camels, "which were afterwards recovered." "But," added
+the telegram, "a terrible sand-storm having arisen, the glorious
+army takes it as the wish of Allah not to continue the attack, and
+has therefore withdrawn in triumph."</p>
+<p>These reports hoodwinked the ignorant natives for a little
+while, but when the stream of haggard soldiers, wounded and
+exhausted, began pouring back from the south, they guessed what had
+happened, and a fierce revulsion against the Germano-Turkish
+r&eacute;gime set in. A few weeks before the advance on Suez, I was
+in Jaffa, where the enthusiasm and excitement had been at
+fever-pitch. Parades and celebrations of all kinds in anticipation
+of the triumphal march into Egypt were taking place, and one day a
+camel, a dog, and a bull, decorated respectively with the flags of
+Russia, France, and England, were driven through the streets. The
+poor animals were horribly maltreated by the natives, who rained
+blows and flung filth upon them by way of giving concrete
+expression to their contempt for the Allies. Mr. Glazebrook, the
+American Consul at Jerusalem, happened to be with me in Jaffa that
+day; and never shall I forget the expression of pain and disgust on
+his face as he watched this melancholy little procession of
+scapegoats hurrying along the street.</p>
+<p>Now, however, all was changed. The Arabs, who take defeat badly,
+turned against the authorities who had got them into such trouble.
+Rumors circulated that Djemal Pasha had been bought by the English
+and that the defeat at Suez had been planned by him, and persons
+keeping an ear close to the ground began to hear mutterings of a
+general massacre of Germans. In fact, things came within an ace of
+a bloody outbreak. I knew some Germans in Jaffa and Haifa who
+firmly believed that it was all over with them. In the defeated
+army itself the Turkish officers gave vent to their hatred of the
+Germans. Three German officers were shot by their Turkish comrades
+during the retreat, and a fourth committed suicide. However, Djemal
+Pasha succeeded in keeping order by means of stern repressive
+methods and by the fear roused by his large body-guard of faithful
+Anatolians.</p>
+<a name="image-9"><!-- Image 9 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img09.png">
+<img src="images/img09t.png" width="30%" alt="Railroad Station Scene Between Haifa and Damascus/Camels Bringing in Newly Cut Trees, Damascus">
+</a></center>
+<p>We felt sure that the Turkish defeat would put a damper on the
+arrogance of the soldiery. But even the Mohammedan population were
+hoping that the Allies would push their victory and land troops in
+Syria and Palestine; for though they hated the infidel, they loved
+the Turk not at all, and the country was exhausted and the blockade
+of the Mediterranean by the Allies prevented the import and export
+of articles. The oranges were rotting on the trees because the
+annual Liverpool market was closed to Palestine, and other crops
+were in similar case. The country was short, too, of petroleum,
+sugar, rice, and other supplies, and even of matches. We had to go
+back to old customs and use flint and steel for fire, and we seldom
+used our lamps. Money was scarce, too, and, Turkey having declared
+a moratorium, cash was often unobtainable even by those who had
+money in the banks, and much distress ensued.</p>
+<p>As the defeated army was pouring in from the south, I decided to
+leave Beersheba and go home. The roads and the fields were covered
+with dead camels and horses and mules. Hundreds of soldiers were
+straggling in disorder, many of them on leave but many deserting.
+Soon after the defeat at the Canal several thousand soldiers
+deserted, but an amnesty was declared and they returned to their
+regiments.</p>
+<p>When I arrived at Jerusalem I found the city filled with
+soldiers. Djemal Pasha had just returned from the desert, and his
+quarters were guarded by a battery of two field guns. Nobody knew
+what to expect; some thought that the country would have a little
+more freedom now that the soldiery had lost its braggadocio, while
+others expected the lawlessness that attends disorganization. I
+went to see Consul Glazebrook. He is a true American, a Southerner,
+formerly a professor of theology at Princeton. He was most earnest
+and devoted in behalf of the American citizens that came under his
+care, rendering at Jerusalem the same sort of service that
+Ambassador Morgenthau has rendered at Constantinople. He was
+practically the only man who stood up for the poor, defenseless
+people of the city. He received me kindly, and I told him what I
+knew of conditions in the country, what I had heard among the
+Arabs, and of my own fears and apprehensions. He was visibly
+impressed and he advised me to see Captain Decker, of the U.S.S.
+Tennessee, who was then in Jaffa, promising to write himself to the
+captain of my proposed visit.</p>
+<p>I went to Jaffa the same day and after two days' delay succeeded
+in seeing Captain Decker, with the further help of Mr. Glazebrook,
+who took me with him. The police interfered and tried to keep me
+from going aboard the ship, but after long discussions I was
+permitted to take my place in the launch that the captain had sent
+for the consul.</p>
+<p>Captain Decker was interested in what I had to say, and at his
+request I dictated my story to his stenographer. What became of my
+report I do not know,&mdash;whether it was transmitted to the
+Department of State or whether Captain Decker communicated with
+Ambassador Morgenthau,&mdash;but at all events we soon began to see
+certain reforms inaugurated in parts of the country, and these
+reforms could have been effected only through pressure from
+Constantinople. The presence of the two American cruisers in the
+Mediterranean waters has without any doubt been instrumental in the
+saving of many lives.</p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<center>FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS</center>
+<p>While I was traveling in the south, another menace to our
+people's welfare had appeared: the locusts. From the Soudan they
+came in tremendous hosts&mdash;black clouds of them that obscured
+the sun. It seemed as if Nature had joined in the conspiracy
+against us. These locusts were of the species known as the pilgrim,
+or wandering, locust; for forty years they had not come to
+Palestine, but now their visitation was like that of which the
+prophet Joel speaks in the Old Testament. They came full-grown,
+ripe for breeding; the ground was covered with the females digging
+in the soil and depositing their egg-packets, and we knew that when
+they hatched we should be overwhelmed, for there was not a foot of
+ground in which these eggs were not to be found.</p>
+<p>The menace was so great that even the military authorities were
+obliged to take notice of it. They realized that if it were allowed
+to fulfill itself, there would be famine in the land, and the army
+would suffer with the rest. Djemal Pasha summoned my brother (the
+President of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Athlit) and
+intrusted him with the organization of a campaign against the
+insects. It was a hard enough task. The Arabs are lazy, and
+fatalistic besides; they cannot understand why men should attempt
+to fight the <i>Djesh Allah</i> ("God's Army"), as they call the
+locusts. In addition, my brother was seriously handicapped by lack
+of petroleum, galvanized iron, and other articles which could not
+be obtained because of the Allies' blockade.</p>
+<p>In spite of these drawbacks, however, he attempted to work up a
+scientific campaign. Djemal Pasha put some thousands of Arab
+soldiers at his disposition, and these were set to work digging
+trenches into which the hatching locusts were driven and destroyed.
+This is the only means of coping with the situation: once the
+locusts get their wings, nothing can be done with them. It was a
+hopeless fight. Nothing short of the co&ouml;peration of every
+farmer in the country could have won the day; and while the people
+of the progressive Jewish villages struggled on to the
+end,&mdash;men, women, and children working in the fields until
+they were exhausted,&mdash;the Arab farmers sat by with folded
+hands. The threats of the military authorities only stirred them to
+half-hearted efforts. Finally, after two months of toil, the
+campaign was given up and the locusts broke in waves over the
+countryside, destroying everything. As the prophet Joel said, "The
+field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new
+wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.... The land is as the garden
+of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness."</p>
+<p>Not only was every green leaf devoured, but the very bark was
+peeled from the trees, which stood out white and lifeless, like
+skeletons. The fields were stripped to the ground, and the old men
+of our villages, who had given their lives to cultivating these
+gardens and vineyards, came out of the synagogues where they had
+been praying and wailing, and looked on the ruin with dimmed eyes.
+Nothing was spared. The insects, in their fierce hunger, tried to
+engulf everything in their way. I have seen Arab babies, left by
+their mothers in the shade of some tree, whose faces had been
+devoured by the oncoming swarms of locusts before their screams had
+been heard. I have seen the carcasses of animals hidden from sight
+by the undulating, rustling blanket of insects. And in the face of
+such a menace the Arabs remained inert. With their customary
+fatalism they accepted the locust plague as a necessary evil. They
+could not understand why we were so frantic to fight it. And as a
+matter of fact, they really got a good deal out of the locusts, for
+they loved to feast upon the female insects. They gathered piles of
+them and threw them upon burning charcoal, then, squatting around
+the fire, devoured the roasted insects with great gusto. I saw a
+fourteen-year-old boy eat as many as a hundred at a sitting.</p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<center>THE LEBANON</center>
+<p>During the locust invasion my brother sent me on an inspection
+tour to investigate the ravages of the insect in Syria. With an
+official <i>boyouroulton</i> (passport) in my pocket, I was able to
+travel all over the country without being interfered with by the
+military authorities. I had an excellent opportunity to see what
+was going on everywhere. The locusts had destroyed everything from
+as far south as the Egyptian desert to the Lebanon Mountains on the
+north; but the locust was not the only, nor the worst, plague that
+the people had to complain of. The plundering under the name of
+"military requisitions," the despotic rule of the army officers,
+and the general insecurity were even more desolating.</p>
+<p>As I proceeded on my journey northward, I hoped to find
+consolation and brighter prospects in the independent province of
+the Lebanon. Few Americans know just what the Lebanon is. From the
+repeated allusions in the Bible most people imagine it to be
+nothing but a mountain. The truth is that a beautiful province of
+about four thousand square miles bears that name. The population of
+the Lebanon consists of a Christian sect called Maronites and the
+Druses, the latter a people with a secret religion the esoteric
+teachings of which are known only to the initiated, and never
+divulged to outsiders. Both these peoples are sturdy, handsome
+folk. Through the machinations of the Turks, whose policy is always
+to "divide and rule," the Maronites were continually fighting
+against the Druses. In 1860 Turkish troops joined with the Druses
+and fell upon the Maronites with wholesale massacres that spread as
+far south as Damascus, where ten thousand Christians were killed in
+two days.</p>
+<a name="image-10"><!-- Image 10 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img10.png">
+<img src="images/img10t.png" width="30%" alt="The Christian Town of Zahleh in the Lebanon">
+</a></center>
+<p>The European powers were moved at last. Fifty warships were sent
+to Beirut, and ten thousand French troops were landed in the
+Lebanon, to create order. Under the pressure of the European powers
+the Sublime Porte was forced to grant an autonomy for the province
+of the Lebanon. The French, English, German, Russian, Austrian,
+and, a year later, the Italian, Governments were signing the
+guaranty of this autonomy.</p>
+<p>Since then the Lebanon has had peace. The Governor of the
+province must always be a Christian, but the General Council of the
+Lebanon includes representatives of all the different races and
+religions of the population. A wonderful development began with the
+liberation from Turkish oppression. Macadamized roads were built
+all over the province, agriculture was improved, and there was
+complete safety for life and property. There is a proverb now in
+Palestine and Syria which says, "In the Lebanon a virgin may travel
+alone at midnight and be safe, and a purse of gold dropped in the
+road at midday will never be stolen." And the proverb told the
+literal truth.</p>
+<p>When one crossed the boundary from Turkish Palestine into the
+Lebanon province, what a change met his eyes!&mdash;peaceful and
+prosperous villages, schools filled with children, immense
+plantations of mulberry trees and olives, the slopes of the
+mountains terraced with beautiful vineyards, a handsome and sturdy
+population, police on every road to help the stranger, and young
+girls and women with happy laugh and chatter working in the fields.
+With a population of about six hundred thousand this province
+exported annually two million dollars' worth of raw silk,
+silkworm-raising being a specialty of the Lebanon.</p>
+<p>When autonomy was granted the Lebanon, French influence became
+predominant among the Maronites and other Christians of the
+province. French is spoken by almost all of them, and love for
+France is a deep-rooted sentiment of the people. On the other hand,
+the Druses feel the English influence. For the last sixty years
+England has been the friend of the Druses, and they have not
+forgotten it.</p>
+<p>It may be worth while to tell in a few words the story of one
+man who accomplished wonders in spreading the influence of his
+country. Sir Richard Wood was born in London, a son of Catholic
+parents. From his early boyhood he aspired to enter the diplomatic
+service. The East attracted him strongly, and in order to learn
+Arabic he went with another young Englishman to live in the
+Lebanon. In Beirut they sought the hospitality of the Maronite
+patriarch. For a few days they were treated with lavish
+hospitality, and then the patriarch summoned them before him and
+told them that they must leave the city within twenty-four hours.
+The reason for their disgrace they discovered later. Not suspecting
+that they were being put to the test, they had eaten meat on a
+Friday, and this made the patriarch think that they were not true
+Catholics, but were there as spies.</p>
+<p>Leaving Beirut in haste, Wood and his friend sought shelter with
+the Druses, who received them with open arms. For two years Wood
+lived among the Druses, in the village of Obey. There he learned
+Arabic and became thoroughly acquainted with the country and with
+the ways of the Druses, and there he conceived the idea of winning
+the Druses for England to counteract the influence of the French
+Maronites. He went back to London, where he succeeded in impressing
+his views upon the Foreign Office, and he returned to Syria charged
+with a secret mission. Before long he persuaded the Druse
+chieftains to address a petition to England asking for British
+protection.</p>
+<p>British protection was granted, and for over thirty years
+Richard Wood, virtually single-handed, shaped the destiny of Syria.
+It was he who broke the power of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet
+Ali; it was he who guided Admiral Stopford in the bombardment of
+Beirut; it was he, again, who brought about the landing of English
+troops in Syria in 1841; we find him afterwards in Damascus as
+British Consul, and wherever he went he was always busy spreading
+English power and prestige. He understood the East thoroughly and
+felt that England must be strong in Syria if she wished to retain
+her imperial power. It is very unfortunate that the policy of Sir
+Richard Wood was not carried out by his nation.</p>
+<p>It was with high hopes and expectations that I approached the
+Lebanon. I was looking forward to the moment when I should find
+myself among people who were free from the Turkish yoke, in a
+country where I should be able to breathe freely for a few
+hours.</p>
+<p>But how great was my consternation, when, on entering the
+Lebanon, I found on all the roads Turkish soldiers who stopped me
+every minute to ask for my papers! Even then I could not realize
+that the worst had happened. Of course, rumors of the Turkish
+occupation of the Lebanon had reached us a few weeks before, but we
+had not believed it, as we knew that Germany and Austria were among
+those who guaranteed the autonomy of the Lebanon. It was true,
+however; the scrap of paper that guaranteed the freedom of the
+Lebanon had proved of no more value to the Lebanese than had that
+other scrap of paper to Belgium. As I entered the beautiful village
+of Ed-Damur, one of the most prosperous and enchanting places on
+earth, I saw entire regiments of Turkish troops encamped in and
+about the village.</p>
+<p>While I was watering my horse, I tried to ask questions from a
+few inhabitants. My fair hair and complexion and my khaki costume
+made them take me for a German, and they barely answered me, but
+when I addressed them in French their faces lit up. For the
+Lebanon, for all it is thousands of miles away from France, is
+nevertheless like a French province. For fifty years the French
+language and French culture have taken hold of the Lebanon. No
+Frenchman has more love for and faith in France than lie in the
+hearts of the Lebanese Christians. They have never forgotten that
+when massacres were threatening to wipe out all the Christians of
+the Lebanon, ten thousand French soldiers swept over the mountains
+to spread peace, life, and French gayety.</p>
+<p>And when the poor people heard the language they loved, and when
+they found out that I too was the son of an oppressed and ruined
+community, all the sadness and bitterness of their hearts was told
+me,&mdash;how the Turkish soldiers had spread over the beloved
+mountains of Lebanon; how the strong, stalwart young Lebanese had
+been taken away from the mountains and forced into the Turkish
+army; how the girls and women were hiding in their homes, afraid to
+be seen by the soldiers and their officers; how the chieftains were
+imprisoned and even hanged; and how violence and pillage had spread
+over the peaceful country.[Footnote: Since the above was written
+the American press has chronicled many atrocities committed in the
+Lebanon. The execution of leaders and the complete blockade of the
+mountains by the Turkish authorities resulted in the starving of
+eighty thousand Lebanese. The French Government has warned Turkey
+through the American Ambassador that the Turks will be held
+accountable for their deeds.]</p>
+<p>I could not help wondering at the mistakes of the Allies. If
+they had understood the situation in Palestine and Syria, how
+differently this war might have eventuated! The Lebanon and Syria
+would have raised a hundred thousand picked men, if the Allies had
+landed in Palestine. The Lebanon would have fought for its
+independence as heroically as did the Belgians. Even the Arab
+population would have welcomed the Allies as liberators. But
+alas!</p>
+<p>With a saddened heart I pursued my journey into Beirut. My
+coming was a joyful surprise to my sister. Many sad things had
+happened since she had last seen me. During my imprisonment she had
+suffered tortures, not knowing what would happen to me, and now
+that she saw me alive she cried from happiness. She told me how
+kindly she had been treated by President Bliss, of the Syrian
+Protestant College, and of all the good things the college had
+done.</p>
+<p>What a blessing the college was for the people of Beirut! Many
+unfortunate people were saved from prison and hardships through the
+intervention of President Bliss. He never tired of rendering
+service, wonderful personal service. But alas, even his influence
+and power began to wane. The American prestige in the country was
+broken, and the Turkish Government no longer respected the American
+flag. An order issued from Constantinople demanded that the
+official language of the college be Turkish instead of English, and
+Turkish officers even dared to enter the college premises to search
+for citizens belonging to the belligerent nations, without
+troubling to ask permission from the American Consul.</p>
+<a name="image-11"><!-- Image 11 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img11.png">
+<img src="images/img11t.png" width="30%" alt="Haifa">
+</a></center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<center>A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE</center>
+<p>Beirut is a city of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, half
+of whom are Christians and the rest Mohammedans and Jews. The pinch
+of hunger was already felt there. Bread was to be had only on
+tickets issued by the Government, and prices in general were
+extremely high. The population were discontented and turbulent, and
+every day thousands of women came before the governor's residence
+to cry and protest against the scarcity of bread.</p>
+<p>The Allies' warships often passed near the town, but the people
+were not afraid of them, for it was known that the Allies had no
+intention of bombarding the cities. Only once had a bombardment
+taken place. Toward the end of March, 1915, a French warship
+approached the bay of Haifa and landed an officer with a letter to
+the commandant of that town giving notice of his intention to
+bombard the German Consulate at 3 P.M. sharp. This was in
+retaliation for the propaganda carried on by the consul, Leutweld
+von Hardegg, and chiefly because of his desecration of the grave of
+Bonaparte's soldiers. The consul had time to pack up his archives
+and valuables, and he left his house before three. The bombardment
+began exactly at three. Fifteen shells were fired with a wonderful
+precision. Not one house in the neighborhood of the consulate was
+touched, but the consulate itself was a heap of ruins after a few
+shells had struck it. The population was exceedingly calm. Only the
+German colony was panic-stricken, and on every German house an
+American flag was raised. It was rather humorous to see all the
+Germans who were active in the Turkish army in one capacity or
+another seek safety by means of this trick.</p>
+<p>This bombardment had a sobering effect upon the Mohammedan
+population. They saw that the Allies were not wholly ignorant of
+what was going on in the country and that they could retaliate, and
+safety for the non-Mohammedans increased accordingly.</p>
+<p>In general Beirut was a rather quiet and safe place. The
+presence of an American cruiser in the port had much to do with
+that. The American sailors were allowed to come ashore three times
+a week, and they spent their money lavishly. It was estimated that
+Beirut was getting more than five thousand dollars a week out of
+them. But the natives were especially impressed by the manliness
+and quick action of the American boys. Frequently a few sailors
+were involved in a street fight with scores of Arabs, and they
+always held their own. In a short time the Americans became feared,
+which in the Orient is equivalent to saying they were respected.
+The Beirut people are famous for their fighting spirit, but this
+spirit was not manifested after a few weeks of intimate
+acquaintance with the American blue-jackets.</p>
+<p>My inspection of the devastation caused by the locusts
+completed, I returned home. The news that greeted me there was
+alarming. I must narrate with some detail the events which finally
+decided me to leave the country. About one hour's ride on horseback
+from our village lives a family of Turkish nobles, the head of
+which was Sadik Pasha, brother of the famous Kiamil Pasha, several
+times Grand Vizier of the Empire. Sadik, who had been exiled from
+Constantinople, came to Palestine and bought great tracts of land
+near my people. After his death his sons&mdash;good-for-nothing,
+wild fellows&mdash;were forced to sell most of the estate&mdash;all
+except one Fewzi Bey, who retained his part of the land and lived
+on it. Here he collected a band of friends as worthless as himself
+and gradually commenced a career of plundering and "frightfulness"
+much like that of the robber barons of mediaeval Germany. Before
+the outbreak of the war he confined his attentions chiefly to the
+Arabs, whom he treated shamefully. He raided cattle and crops and
+carried off girls and women in broad daylight. On one occasion he
+stopped a wedding procession and carried off the young bride. Then
+he seized the bridegroom, against whom he bore a grudge, and
+subjected the poor Bedouin to the bastinado until he consented to
+divorce his wife by pronouncing the words, "I divorce thee," three
+times in the presence of witnesses, according to Mohammedan custom.
+This Bedouin was the grandson of the Sheikh Hilou, a holy man of
+the region upon whose grave the Arabs are accustomed to make their
+prayers. But we villagers of Zicron-Jacob had never submitted to
+Fewzi Bey in any way; our young men were organized and armed, and
+after a few encounters he let us alone.</p>
+<p>After the mobilization, however, and the taking away of our
+arms, this outlaw saw that his chance had come. He began to send
+his men and his camels into our fields to harvest our crops and
+carry them off. This pillage continued until the locusts
+came&mdash;Fewzi, in the mean while, becoming so bold that he would
+gallop through the streets of our village with his horsemen,
+shooting right and left into the air and insulting old men and
+women. He boasted&mdash;apparently with reason&mdash;that the
+authorities at Haifa were powerless to touch him.</p>
+<a name="image-12"><!-- Image 12 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img12.png">
+<img src="images/img12t.png" width="30%" alt="Haifa and the Bay of Akka. Looking East from Mount Carmel">
+</a></center>
+<p>There was one hope left. Djemal Pasha had boasted that he had
+introduced law and order; the country was under military rule; it
+remained to see what he would say and do when the crimes of Fewzi
+Bey were brought to his notice. Accordingly, armed with my
+<i>boyouroulton</i>, or passport, of a locust-inspector, I rode to
+Jerusalem, where I procured, through my brother, who was then in
+favor, an interview with Djemal Pasha. He received me on the very
+day of my arrival, and listened attentively while for a whole hour
+I poured out the story of Fewzi Bey's outrages. I put my whole
+heart into the plea and wound up by asking if it was to the credit
+of the progressive Young Turks to shelter feudal abuses of a bygone
+age. Djemal seemed to be impressed. He sprang from his chair, began
+walking up and down the room; then with a great dramatic gesture he
+exclaimed, "Justice shall be rendered!" and assured me that a
+commission of army officers would be sent at once to start an
+investigation. I returned to Zicron-Jacob with high hopes.</p>
+<p>Sure enough, a few days later Fewzi Bey was summoned to
+Jerusalem; at the same time the "commission," which had dwindled to
+one single officer on secret mission, put in an appearance and
+began to make inquiries among the natives. He got little
+satisfaction at first, for they lived in mortal terror of the
+outlaw; they grew bolder, however, when they learned his purpose.
+Complaints and testimonies came pouring in, and in four days the
+officer had the names of hundreds of witnesses, establishing no
+less than fifty-two crimes of the most serious nature. Fewzi's
+friends and relatives, in the mean while, were doing their utmost
+to stem the tide of accusations. The Kaimakam (lieutenant-governor)
+of Haifa came in person to our village and threatened the elders
+with all sorts of severities if they did not retract the charges
+they had made. But they stood firm. Had not Djemal Pasha,
+commander-in-chief of the armies in Palestine, given his word of
+honor that we should have redress?</p>
+<p>We were soon shown the depth of our na&iuml;vet&eacute; in
+fancying that justice could be done in Turkey by a Turk. Fewzi Bey
+came back from Jerusalem, not in convict's clothes, but in the
+uniform of a Turkish officer! Djemal Pasha had commissioned him
+commandant of the Moujahaddeen (religious militia) of the entire
+region! It was bad enough to stand him as an outlaw; now we had to
+submit to him as an officer. He came riding into our village daily,
+ordering everybody about and picking me out for distinguished
+spitefulness.</p>
+<p>My position soon became unbearable. I was, of course, known as
+the organizer of the young men's union which for so long had put up
+a spirited resistance to Fewzi; I was still looked upon as a leader
+of the younger spirits, and I knew that sooner or later Fewzi would
+try to make good his threat, often repeated, that he would "shoot
+me like a dog." It was hardly likely that an open attempt on my
+life would be made. When Ambassador Morgenthau visited Palestine,
+he had stayed in our village and given my family the evidence of
+his sincere friendship. These things count in the East, and I soon
+got the reputation of having influential friends. However, there
+were other ways of disposing of me. One evening, about sunset,
+while I was riding through a valley near our village, my horse
+shied violently in passing a clump of bushes. I gave him the spur
+and turned and rode toward the bushes just in time to see a
+horseman dash out wildly with a rifle across his saddle. I kept the
+incident to myself, but I was more cautious and kept my eyes open
+wherever I went. One afternoon, a fortnight later, as I was riding
+to Hedera, another Jewish village, two hours' ride away, a shot was
+fired from behind a sand-dune. The bullet burned a hole in the
+lapel of my coat.</p>
+<p>That night I had a long talk with my brother. There was no doubt
+whatever in his mind that I should try to leave the country, while
+I, on the contrary, could not bear to think of deserting my people
+at the crisis of their fortunes. It was a beautiful night, such a
+night, I think, as only Palestine can show, a white, serene,
+moon-bathed night. The roar of the Mediterranean came out of the
+stillness as if to remind us that help and salvation could come
+only from the sea, the sea upon which scores of the warships of the
+Allies were sailing back and forth. We had argued into the small
+hours before I yielded to his persuasion.</p>
+<a name="image-13"><!-- Image 13 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img13.png">
+<img src="images/img13t.png" width="30%" alt="The Bazaar of Jaffa on a Market Day">
+</a></center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<center>A RASH ADVENTURE</center>
+<p>It was all very well to decide to leave the country; to get
+safely away was a different matter. There were two ways out. One of
+these&mdash;the land route by Constantinople&mdash;could not be
+considered. The other way was to board one of the American cruisers
+which, by order of Ambassador Morgenthau, were empowered to assist
+citizens of neutral countries to leave the Ottoman Empire. These
+cruisers had already done wonderful rescue work for the Russian
+Jews in Palestine, who, when war was declared, were to have been
+sent to the Mesopotamian town of Urfa&mdash;there to suffer
+massacre and outrage like the Armenians. This was prevented by Mr.
+Morgenthau's strenuous representations, with the result that these
+Russian Jews were gathered together as in a great drag-net and
+herded to Jaffa, amidst suffering unspeakable. There they were met
+by the American cruisers which were to transport them to Egypt. Up
+to the very moment when they set foot on the friendly warships they
+were robbed and horribly abused by the Jaffa boatmen. The eternal
+curse of the Wandering Jew! Driven from Russia, they come to seek
+shelter in Turkey; Turkey then casts them from her under pretext
+that they are loyal to Russia. Truly, the Jew lifts his eyes to the
+mountains, asking the ancient and still unanswered question,
+"Whence shall come my help?"</p>
+<p>The Turkish Government later repented of its leniency in
+allowing these Russian Jews to escape, and gave orders that only
+neutrals should leave the country&mdash;and then only under certain
+conditions. I was not a neutral; my first papers of American
+citizenship were valueless to further my escape. I had heard,
+however, that the United States cruiser Tennessee was to call at
+Jaffa, and I determined to get aboard her by hook or by crook. One
+evening, as soon as darkness had fallen, I bade a sorrowful
+farewell to my people, and set off for Jaffa, traveling only by
+night and taking out-of-the-way paths to avoid the pickets, for now
+that the locust campaign was over, my <i>boyouroulton</i> was
+useless. At dawn, two days later, I slipped into Jaffa by way of
+the sand-dunes and went to the house of a friend whom I could trust
+to help me in every possible way, and begged him to find me a
+passport for a neutral. He set off in search and I waited all day
+at his house, consumed with impatience and anxiety. At last, toward
+evening, my friend returned, but the news he brought was not
+cheering. He had found a passport, indeed, but his report of the
+rigors of the inspection at the wharf was such as to make it clear
+that the chances of my getting through on a false passport were
+exceedingly slim, since I was well known in Jaffa. If I were caught
+in such an undertaking, it might mean death for me and punishment
+for the friends who had helped me.</p>
+<p>Evidently this plan was not feasible. All that night I racked my
+brain for a solution. Finally I decided to stake everything on what
+appeared to be my only chance. The Tennessee was due on the next
+day but one, early in the morning. I gave my friend the name of a
+boatman who was under obligations to me and had sworn to be my
+friend for life or death. Even under the circumstances I hesitated
+to trust a Mohammedan, but it seemed the only thing to do; I had no
+choice left. My friend brought the boatman, and I put my plan
+before him, appealing to his daring and his sense of honor. I
+wanted him to take me at midnight in his fishing-boat from an
+isolated part of the coast and wait for the appearance of the
+Tennessee; then, on her arrival, amid the scramble of boats full of
+refugees, I was to jump aboard, while he would return with the
+other boats. The poor fellow tried to remonstrate, pointing out the
+dangers and what he called&mdash;rightly enough,
+doubtless&mdash;the folly of the plan. I stuck to it, however,
+making it clear that his part would be well paid for, and at last
+he consented and we arranged a meeting-place behind the sand-dunes
+by the shore.</p>
+<p>I put a few personal belongings into a little suit-case and had
+my friend give it to one of the refugees who was to sail on the
+Tennessee. If I succeeded, I was to recover it when we reached
+Egypt. The only thing I took with me was the paper which declared
+my "intention of becoming an American citizen," the "first paper."
+From this document I was determined not to part. I shall not tell
+how I kept it on me, as the means I used may still be used by
+others in concealing such papers and a disclosure of the secret
+might bring disaster to them. Suffice it to say that I had the
+paper with me and that no search would have brought it to
+light.</p>
+<p>Arrived next morning at the appointed place, I gave the signal
+agreed upon, the whine of a jackal, and, after repeating it again
+and again, I heard a very low and muffled answer. My boatman was
+there! I had some fear that he might have betrayed me and that I
+should presently see a soldier or policeman leap out of the little
+boat, but my fears proved groundless, the man was faithful.</p>
+<a name="image-14"><!-- Image 14 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img14.png">
+<img src="images/img14t.png" width="30%" alt="Stormy Sea Breaking over Rocks off Jaffa">
+</a></center>
+<p>We rowed out quietly, our boat a little nutshell on the tossing
+waves. But I was relieved; the elements did not frighten me; on the
+contrary, I felt secure and refreshed in the midst of the sea. When
+morning began to dawn, scores of little boats came out of the
+harbor and circled about waiting for the cruiser. This was our
+chance. I crouched in the bottom of our boat and to all appearances
+my boatman was engaged merely in fishing. After I had lain there
+over an hour with my heart beating like a drum and with small hopes
+for the success of my undertaking, I heard at last the whistle of
+the approaching cruiser followed by a Babel of mad shouting and
+cursing among the boatmen. In the confusion I felt it safe to sit
+up. No one paid the slightest attention to me. All were engaged in
+a wild race to reach and mount the Tennessee's ladder. I scrambled
+up with the rest, and when, on the deck, an officer demanded my
+passport, I put on a bold front and asked him to tell Captain
+Decker that Mr. Aaronsohn wished to see him.</p>
+<p>Ten minutes later I stood in the captain's cabin. There I
+unfolded my story, and wound up by asking him if, under the
+circumstances, my "first papers" might not entitle me to
+protection. As I spoke I could see the struggle that was going on
+within him. When he answered it was to explain, with the utmost
+kindness, that if he took me aboard his ship it would be to forfeit
+his word of honor to the Turkish Government, his pledge to take
+only citizens of neutral countries; that he could not consider me
+an American on the strength of my first papers; and that any such
+evasion might lead to serious complications for him and for his
+Government. Well, there was nothing for me to do but to withdraw
+and go back to Jaffa to face trial for an attempt to escape.</p>
+<p>When I reached the deck again I found it swarming with refugees,
+many of whom knew me and came up to congratulate me on getting
+away. I could only shake my head and with death in my heart descend
+the Tennessee's ladder. It did not matter now what boat I took. Any
+boatman was eager enough to take me for a few cents. As I sat in
+the boat, every stroke of the oars bringing me nearer to the shore
+and to what I felt was inevitable captivity, a great bitterness
+swelled my heart. I was tired, utterly tired of all the dangers and
+trials I had been going through for the last months. From
+depression I sank into despair and out of despair came, strange to
+say, a great serenity, the serenity of despair.</p>
+<p>On the quay I ran into Hassan Bey, commandant of the police, who
+was superintending the embarkation of refugees. I knew him and he
+knew me. Half an hour later I was in police headquarters under
+examination by Hassan Bey. I was desperate, and answered him
+recklessly. A seasick man is indifferent to shipwreck. This was the
+substance of our conversation:&mdash;</p>
+<p>"How did you get aboard the ship?"</p>
+<p>"In a boat with some refugees. A woman hid me with her
+skirts."</p>
+<p>"So you were trying to escape, were you?"</p>
+<p>"If I had been, I shouldn't have come back."</p>
+<p>"Then what did you do on the cruiser?"</p>
+<p>"I went to talk to the captain, who is a friend of mine. My life
+is in danger. Fewzi Bey is after me, and I wanted <i>my friends in
+America</i> to know how justice is done in Palestine."</p>
+<p>"Who are your friends in America?"</p>
+<p>"Men who could break you in a minute."</p>
+<p>"Do you know to whom you are speaking?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Hassan Bey. I am sick of persecution. I wish you would
+hang me with your own hands as you hanged the young Christian; my
+friends would have your life for mine."</p>
+<p>I wonder now how I dared to speak to him in this manner. But the
+bluff carried. Hassan Bey looked at me curiously for a
+moment&mdash;then smiled and offered me a cigarette, assuring me
+that he believed me a loyal citizen, and declaring he felt deeply
+hurt that I had not come to him for permission to visit the
+cruiser. We parted with a profusion of Eastern compliments, and
+that evening I started back to Zicron-Jacob.</p>
+<a name="image-15"><!-- Image 15 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img15.png">
+<img src="images/img15t.png" width="30%" alt="The Author's Sister on Her Horse Tayar">
+</a></center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<center>ESCAPE</center>
+<p>The failure of my attempt to leave the country only sharpened my
+desire to make another trial. The danger of the enterprise tended
+to reconcile me to deserting my family and comrades and seeking
+safety for myself. As I racked my brain for a promising plan, a
+letter came from my sister in Beirut with two pieces of news which
+were responsible for my final escape. The American College was
+shortly to close for the summer, and the U.S.S. Chester was to sail
+for Alexandria with refugees aboard. Beirut is a four days' trip
+from our village, and roads are unsafe. It was out of the question
+to permit my sister to come home alone, and it was impossible for
+any of us to get leave to go after her; nor did we want to have her
+at home in the unsettled condition of the country. I began
+wondering if I could not possibly get to Beirut and get my sister
+aboard the Chester, which offered, perhaps, the last opportunity to
+go out with the refugees. It would be a difficult undertaking but
+it might be our only chance and I quickly made up my mind to carry
+it out if it were a possible thing. I had to act immediately; no
+time was to be lost, for no one could tell how soon the Chester
+might sail.</p>
+<p>My last adventure had been entered upon with forebodings, but
+now I felt that I should succeed. To us Orientals intuition speaks
+in very audible tones and we are trained from childhood to listen
+to its voice. It was with a feeling of confidence in the outcome,
+therefore, that I bade this second good-bye to my family and
+dearest friends. Solemn hours they were, these hours of farewell,
+hours that needed few words. Then once more I slipped out into the
+night to make my secret way to Beirut.</p>
+<p>It was about midnight when I left home, dressed in a soldier's
+uniform and driving a donkey before me. I traveled only by night
+and spent each day in hiding in some cave or narrow valley where I
+could sleep with some measure of security. For food I had brought
+bread, dried figs, and chocolate, and water was always to be found
+in little springs and pools. In these clear, warm nights I used to
+think of David, a fugitive and pursued by his enemies. How well I
+could now understand his despairing cry: "How long wilt thou forget
+me, O Lord? for ever?... How long shall mine enemy be exalted over
+me?"</p>
+<p>Five nights I journeyed, and at last one morning beautiful
+Beirut appeared in the distance and I found myself in the forest of
+pines that leads into the city. The fresh dawn was filled with the
+balmy breath of the pines and all the odors of the Lebanon. Driving
+my donkey before me, I boldly approached the first picket-house and
+saluted the non-commissioned officer in military fashion. He
+stopped me and asked whence I came and where I was going. I smiled
+sweetly and replied that I was the orderly of a German officer who
+was surveying the country a few hours to the south and that I was
+going to Beirut for provisions. Then I lighted a cigarette and sat
+down for a chat. After discussing politics and the war for a few
+minutes, I jumped up, exclaiming that if I didn't hurry I should be
+late, and so took my departure. It was all so simple, and it
+brought me safely to Beirut. My donkey, having served the purpose
+for which I had brought him, was speedily abandoned, and I hurried
+to a friend's house, where I exchanged my uniform for the garb of a
+civilian.</p>
+<p>My sister was the most surprised person on earth when she saw me
+walking into her room, and, when I told her that I wanted her to go
+with me on the Chester, she thought me crazy, for she knew that
+hundreds of persons were trying in vain to find means of leaving
+the country and it seemed to her impossible that we, who were
+Turkish subjects, could succeed in outwitting the authorities. Even
+when I had explained my plans and she was willing to admit the
+possibility of success, she still felt doubts as to whether it
+would be right for her to leave the country while her friends were
+left behind in danger. I assured her, however, that our family
+would feel relieved to know that we were in safety and could come
+back fresh and strong after the war to help in rebuilding the
+country.</p>
+<p>Having gained her consent, I still had the difficult problem of
+ways and means before me. The Chester had orders to take citizens
+of neutral countries only. Passports had to be examined by the
+Turkish authorities and by the American Consul-General, who gave
+the final permission to board the cruiser. How was I to pass this
+double scrutiny? After long and arduous search, with the assistance
+of several good friends, I at last discovered a man who was willing
+to sell me the passports of a young couple belonging to a neutral
+nation. I cannot go into particulars about this arrangement, of
+course. Suffice it to say that my sister was to travel as my wife
+and that we both had to disguise ourselves so as to answer the
+descriptions on the passports. When I went to the American
+Consulate-General to get the permit, I found the building crowded
+with people of all nations,&mdash;Spanish and Greek and Dutch and
+Swiss,&mdash;all waiting for the precious little papers that should
+take them aboard the American cruiser, that haven of liberty and
+safety. The Chester was to take all these people to Alexandria, and
+those who had the means were to be charged fifty cents a day for
+their food. From behind my dark goggles I recognized many a person
+in disguise like myself and seeking escape. We never betrayed
+recognition for fear of the spies who infested the place.</p>
+<p>After securing my permit, I ran downstairs and straight to "my"
+consul, whose dragoman I took along with me to the <i>seraya</i>,
+or government building. Of course, the dragoman was well tipped and
+he helped me considerably in hastening the examination I had to
+undergo at the hands of the Turkish officials. All went well, and I
+hurried back to my sister triumphant.</p>
+<p>The Chester was to sail in two days, but while we were waiting,
+the alarming news came that the American Consul had been advised
+that the British Government refused to permit the landing of the
+refugees in Egypt and that the departure of the Chester was
+indefinitely postponed. With a sinking at my heart I rushed up to
+the American Consulate for details and there learned that the
+U.S.S. Des Moines was to sail in a few hours for Rhodes with
+Italian and Greek refugees and that I could go on her if I wished.
+In a few minutes I had my permit changed for the trip on the Des
+Moines and I hurried home to my sister. We hastily got together the
+few belongings we were to take with us, jumped into a carriage, and
+drove to the harbor.</p>
+<p>We had still another ordeal to go through. My sister was taken
+into a private room and thoroughly searched; so was I. Nobody could
+leave the country with more than twenty-five dollars in cash on his
+person. Our baggage was carefully overhauled. No papers or books
+could be taken. My sister's Bible was looked upon with much
+suspicion since it contained a map of ancient Canaan. I explained
+that this was necessary for the orientation of our prayers and that
+without it we could not tell in which direction to turn our faces
+when praying! This seemed plausible to the Moslem examiners and
+saved the Bible, the only book we now possess as a souvenir from
+home. Now our passports were examined again and several questions
+were asked. My sister was brave and self-possessed, cool and
+unconcerned in manner, and at last the final signature was affixed
+and we jumped into the little boat that was to take us out to the
+ship.</p>
+<p>At this moment a man approached, a dry-goods dealer of whom my
+sister had made some purchases a few months before. He seemed to
+recognize her and he asked her in German if she were not Miss
+Aaronsohn. I felt my blood leave my face, and, looking him straight
+in the eye, I whispered, "If you say one word more, you will be a
+dead man; so help me God!" He must have felt that I meant exactly
+what I said, for he walked off mumbling unintelligibly.</p>
+<p>At last the boat got away, and five minutes later we were
+mounting the side of the Des Moines. Throngs of refugees covered
+the decks of the cruiser. Their faces showed tension and anxiety.
+Their presence there seemed too good to be true, and all awaited
+the moment when the ship should heave anchor. A Filipino sailor
+showed us about, and as he spoke Italian, I told him I wanted to be
+hidden somewhere till the ship got under way. I felt that even yet
+we were not entirely safe. That my fears were justified I
+discovered shortly, when from our hiding-place I saw the shopkeeper
+approaching in a small boat with a Turkish officer. They looked
+over all the refugees on the deck, but searched for us in vain.
+After a half-hour more of uncomfortable tension the engines began
+to sputter, the propellers revolved, and&mdash;we were safe!</p>
+<a name="image-16"><!-- Image 16 --></a>
+<center><a href="images/img16.png">
+<img src="images/img16t.png" width="30%" alt="Beirut, from the deck of an outgoing steamer">
+</a></center>
+<p>The day was dying and a beautiful twilight softened the outlines
+of the Lebanon and the houses of Beirut. The Mediterranean lay
+quiet and peaceful around us, and the healthy, sturdy American
+sailors gave a feeling of confidence. As the cruiser drew out of
+the harbor, a great cry of farewell arose from the refugees on
+board, a cry in which was mingled the relief of being free, anguish
+at leaving behind parents and friends, fear and hope for the
+future. A little later the sailors were lined up in arms to salute
+the American flag when it was lowered for the night. Moved by a
+powerful instinct of love and respect, all the refugees jumped to
+their feet, the men bareheaded and the women with folded hands, and
+in that moment I understood as I had never understood before the
+real sacred meaning of a flag. To all those people standing in awe
+about that piece of cloth bearing the stars and stripes America was
+an incarnation of love universal, of freedom and salvation.</p>
+<p>The cool Syrian night, our first night on the cruiser, was spent
+in songs, hymns, and conversation. We were all too excited to
+sleep. Friends discovered friends and tales of woe were exchanged,
+stories of hardship, injustice, oppression, all of which ended with
+mutual congratulations on escaping from the clutches of the
+Turks.</p>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+<center>THE END</center>
+<p> </p>
+<p> </p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn
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+Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: With the Turks in Palestine
+
+Author: Alexander Aaronsohn
+
+Release Date: November 30, 2003 [EBook #10338]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Steven desJardins and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+WITH THE TURKS IN
+PALESTINE
+
+BY
+
+ALEXANDER AARONSOHN
+
+
+
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: DJEMAL PASHA]
+
+1916
+
+TO MY MOTHER
+
+WHO LIVED AND FOUGHT AND DIED
+FOR A REGENERATED
+PALESTINE
+
+
+   _What have I done, or tried, or said
+    In thanks to that dear woman dead_?
+
+MASEFIELD
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+To the editors of the _Atlantic Monthly_,
+to the publishers, and to the many
+friends who have encouraged me, I
+am and shall ever remain grateful
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+       INTRODUCTION
+
+    I. ZICRON-JACOB
+
+   II. PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE
+
+  III. THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA
+
+   IV. ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE
+
+    V. THE HIDDEN ARMS
+
+   VI. THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN
+
+  VII. FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS
+
+ VIII. THE LEBANON
+
+   IX. A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE
+
+    X. A RASH ADVENTURE
+
+   XI. ESCAPE
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+DJEMAL PASHA
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+SAFFED
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, in March, 1911_
+
+SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA
+
+NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN,
+ IN ZICRON-JACOB
+
+IN A NATIVE CAFE, SAFFED
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+CAMELS BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS
+   _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald_
+
+THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+HAIFA
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM
+MOUNT CARMEL
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA
+  _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR
+  _Photograph by Mr. Julius Rosenwald in March, 1914_
+
+BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER
+   _Photograph by Underwood & Underwood_
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and dreams of
+liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little
+country the soul of which is torn to pieces--a little country that is so
+remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard.
+
+It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw Abraham
+build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the
+country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and
+loveliness,--a land of promise never to be attained,--the country that
+gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit. Palestine!
+
+No war correspondents, no Red Cross or relief committees have gone to
+Palestine, because no actual fighting has taken place there, and yet
+hundreds of thousands are suffering there that worst of agonies, the
+agony of the spirit.
+
+Those who have devoted their lives to show the world that Palestine can
+be made again a country flowing with milk and honey, those who have
+dreamed of reviving the spirit of the prophets and the great teachers,
+are hanged and persecuted and exiled, their dreams shattered, their holy
+places profaned, their work ruined. Cut off from the world, with no
+bread to sustain the starving body, the heavy boot of a barbarian
+soldiery trampling their very soul, the dreamers of Palestine refuse to
+surrender, and amidst the clash of guns and swords they are battling for
+the spirit with the weapons of the spirit.
+
+The time has not yet come to write the record of these battles, nor even
+to attempt to render justice to the sublime heroes of Palestine. This
+book is merely the story of some of the personal experiences of one who
+has done less and suffered less than thousands of his comrades.
+
+ALEXANDER AARONSOHN
+
+
+
+
+WITH THE TURKS IN PALESTINE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ZICRON-JACOB
+
+
+Thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been organized as the
+Zionist Movement led my parents to leave their homes in Roumania and
+emigrate to Palestine, where they joined a number of other Jewish
+pioneers in founding Zicron-Jacob--a little village lying just south of
+Mount Carmel, in that fertile coastal region close to the ancient Plains
+of Armageddon.
+
+Here I was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and harmony
+of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed stone houses
+huddled close together for protection against the native Arabs who, at
+first, menaced the life of the new colony. The village was far more
+suggestive of Switzerland than of the conventional slovenly villages of
+the East, mud-built and filthy; for while it was the purpose of our
+people, in returning to the Holy Land, to foster the Jewish language and
+the social conditions of the Old Testament as far as possible, there
+was nothing retrograde in this movement. No time was lost in introducing
+progressive methods of agriculture, and the climatological experiments
+of other countries were observed and made use of in developing the ample
+natural resources of the land.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE CEMETERY OF ZICRON-JACOB]
+
+Eucalyptus, imported from Australia, soon gave the shade of its cool,
+healthful foliage where previously no trees had grown. In the course of
+time dry farming (which some people consider a recent discovery, but
+which in reality is as old as the Old Testament) was introduced and
+extended with American agricultural implements; blooded cattle were
+imported, and poultry-raising on a large scale was undertaken with the
+aid of incubators--to the disgust of the Arabs, who look on such
+usurpation of the hen's functions as against nature and sinful. Our
+people replaced the wretched native trails with good roads, bordered by
+hedges of thorny acacia which, in season, were covered with downy little
+yellow blossoms that smelled sweeter than honey when the sun was on
+them.
+
+More important than all these, a communistic village government was
+established, in which both sexes enjoyed equal rights, including that of
+suffrage--strange as this may seem to persons who (when they think of
+the matter at all) form vague conceptions of all the women-folk of
+Palestine as shut up in harems.
+
+A short experience with Turkish courts and Turkish justice taught our
+people that they would have to establish a legal system of their own;
+two collaborating judges were therefore appointed--one to interpret the
+Mosaic law, another to temper it with modern jurisprudence. All Jewish
+disputes were settled by this court. Its effectiveness may be judged by
+the fact that the Arabs, weary of Turkish venality,--as open and
+shameless as anywhere in the world,--began in increasing numbers to
+bring their difficulties to our tribunal. Jews are law-abiding people,
+and life in those Palestine colonies tended to bring out the fraternal
+qualities of our race; but it is interesting to note that in over thirty
+years not one Jewish criminal case was reported from forty-five
+villages.
+
+Zicron-Jacob was a little town of one hundred and thirty "fires"--so we
+call it--when, in 1910, on the advice of my elder brother, who was head
+of the Jewish Experiment Station at Athlit, an ancient town of the
+Crusaders, I left for America to enter the service of the United States
+in the Department of Agriculture. A few days after reaching this country
+I took out my first naturalization papers and proceeded to Washington,
+where I became part of that great government service whose beneficent
+activity is too little known by Americans. Here I remained until June,
+1913, when I returned to Palestine with the object of taking
+motion-pictures and stereopticon views. These I intended to use in a
+lecturing tour for spreading the Zionist propaganda in the United
+States.
+
+During the years of my residence in America, I was able to appreciate
+and judge in their right value the beauty and inspiration of the life
+which my people led in the Holy Land. From a distance, too, I saw better
+the need for organization among our communities, and I determined to
+build up a fraternal union of the young Jewish men all over the country.
+
+Two months after my return from America, an event occurred which gave
+impetus to these projects. The physician of our village, an old man who
+had devoted his entire life to serving and healing the people of
+Palestine, without distinction of race or religion, was driving home one
+evening in his carriage from a neighboring settlement. With him was a
+young girl of sixteen. In a deserted place they were set upon by four
+armed Arabs, who beat the old man to unconsciousness as he tried, in
+vain, to defend the girl from the terrible fate which awaited her.
+
+Night came on. Alarmed by the absence of the physician, we young men
+rode out in search of him. We finally discovered what had happened; and
+then and there, in the serene moonlight of that Eastern night, with
+tragedy close at hand, I made my comrades take oath on the honor of
+their sisters to organize themselves into a strong society for the
+defense of the life and honor of our villagers and of our people at
+large.
+
+These details are, perhaps, useful for the better understanding of the
+disturbances that came thick and fast when in August, 1914, the
+war-madness broke out among the nations of Europe. The repercussion was
+at once felt even in our remote corner of the earth. Soon after the
+German invasion of Belgium the Turkish army was mobilized and all
+citizens of the Empire between nineteen and forty-five years were called
+to the colors. As the Young Turk Constitution of 1909 provided that all
+Christians and Jews were equally liable to military service, our young
+men knew that they, too, would be called upon to make the common
+sacrifice. For the most part, they were not unwilling to sustain the
+Turkish Government. While the Constitution imposed on them the burden of
+militarism, it had brought with it the compensation of freedom of
+religion and equal rights; and we could not forget that for six hundred
+years Turkey has held her gates wide open to the Jews who fled from the
+Spanish Inquisition and similar ministrations of other civilized
+countries.
+
+Of course, we never dreamed that Turkey would do anything but remain
+neutral. If we had had any idea of the turn things were ultimately to
+take, we should have given a different greeting to the _mouchtar_, or
+sheriff, who came to our village with the list of mobilizable men to be
+called on for service. My own position was a curious one. I had every
+intention of completing the process of becoming an American citizen,
+which I had begun by taking out "first papers." In the eyes of the law,
+however, I was still a Turkish subject, with no claim to American
+protection. This was sneeringly pointed out to me by the American Consul
+at Haifa, who happens to be a German; so there was no other course but
+to surrender myself to the Turkish Government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PRESSED INTO THE SERVICE
+
+
+There was no question as to my eligibility for service. I was young and
+strong and healthy--and even if I had not been, the physical examination
+of Turkish recruits is a farce. The enlisting officers have a theory of
+their own that no man is really unfit for the army--a theory which has
+been fostered by the ingenious devices of the Arabs to avoid
+conscription. To these wild people the protracted discipline of military
+training is simply a purgatory, and for weeks before the recruiting
+officers are due, they dose themselves with powerful herbs and physics
+and fast, and nurse sores into being, until they are in a really
+deplorable condition. Some of them go so far as to cut off a finger or
+two. The officers, however, have learned to see beyond these little
+tricks, and few Arabs succeed in wriggling through their drag-net. I
+have watched dozens of Arabs being brought in to the recruiting office
+on camels or horses, so weak were they, and welcomed into the service
+with a severe beating--the sick and the shammers sharing the same fate.
+Thus it often happens that some of the new recruits die after their
+first day of garrison life.
+
+Together with twenty of my comrades, I presented myself at the
+recruiting station at Acco (the St. Jean d'Acre of history). We had been
+given to understand that, once our names were registered, we should be
+allowed to return home to provide ourselves with money, suitable
+clothing, and food, as well as to bid our families good-bye. To our
+astonishment, however, we were marched off to the Han, or caravanserai,
+and locked into the great courtyard with hundreds of dirty Arabs. Hour
+after hour passed; darkness came, and finally we had to stretch
+ourselves on the ground and make the best of a bad situation. It was a
+night of horrors. Few of us had closed an eye when, at dawn, an officer
+appeared and ordered us out of the Han. From our total number about
+three hundred (including four young men from our village and myself)
+were picked out and told to make ready to start at once for Saffed, a
+town in the hills of northern Galilee near the Sea of Tiberias, where
+our garrison was to be located. No attention was paid to our requests
+that we be allowed to return to our homes for a final visit. That same
+morning we were on our way to Saffed--a motley, disgruntled crew.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: SAFFED]
+
+It was a four days' march--four days of heat and dust and physical
+suffering. The September sun smote us mercilessly as we straggled along
+the miserable native trail, full of gullies and loose stones. It would
+not have been so bad if we had been adequately shod or clothed; but soon
+we found ourselves envying the ragged Arabs as they trudged along
+barefoot, paying no heed to the jagged flints. (Shoes, to the Arab, are
+articles for ceremonious indoor use; when any serious walking is to be
+done, he takes them off, slings them over his shoulder, and trusts to
+the horny soles of his feet.)
+
+To add to our troubles, the Turkish officers, with characteristic
+fatalism, had made no commissary provision for us whatever. Any food we
+ate had to be purchased by the roadside from our own funds, which were
+scant enough to start with. The Arabs were in a terrible plight. Most of
+them were penniless, and, as the pangs of hunger set in, they began
+pillaging right and left from the little farms by the wayside. From
+modest beginnings--poultry and vegetables--they progressed to larger
+game, unhindered by the officers. Houses were entered, women insulted;
+time and again I saw a stray horse, grazing by the roadside, seized by a
+crowd of grinning Arabs, who piled on the poor beast's back until he was
+almost crushed to earth, and rode off triumphantly, while their comrades
+held back the weeping owner. The result of this sort of
+"requisitioning," was that our band of recruits was followed by an
+increasing throng of farmers--imploring, threatening, trying by hook or
+by crook to win back the stolen goods. Little satisfaction did they get,
+although some of them went with us as far as Saffed.
+
+Our garrison town is not an inviting place, nor has it an inviting
+reputation. Lord Kitchener himself had good reason to remember it. As a
+young lieutenant of twenty-three, in the Royal Engineering Corps, he was
+nearly killed there by a band of fanatical Arabs while surveying for the
+Palestine Exploration Fund. Kitchener had a narrow escape of it (one of
+his fellow officers was shot dead close by him), but he went calmly
+ahead and completed his maps, splendid large-scale affairs which have
+never since been equaled--and which are now in use by the Turkish and
+German armies! However, though Saffed combines most of the unpleasant
+characteristics of Palestine native towns, we welcomed the sight of it,
+for we were used up by the march. An old deserted mosque was given us
+for barracks; there, on the bare stone floor, in close-packed
+promiscuity, too tired to react to filth and vermin, we spent our first
+night as soldiers of the Sultan, while the milky moonlight streamed in
+through every chink and aperture, and bats flitted round the vaulting
+above the snoring carcasses of the recruits.
+
+Next morning we were routed out at five. The black depths of the well in
+the center of the mosque courtyard provided doubtful water for washing,
+bathing, and drinking; then came breakfast,--our first government
+meal,--consisting, simply enough, of boiled rice, which was ladled out
+into tin wash-basins holding rations for ten men. In true Eastern
+fashion we squatted down round the basin and dug into the rice with our
+fingers. At first I was rather upset by this sort of table manners, and
+for some time I ate with my eyes fixed on my own portion, to avoid
+seeing the Arabs, who fill the palms of their hands with rice, pat it
+into a ball and cram it into their mouths just so, the bolus making a
+great lump in their lean throats as it reluctantly descends.
+
+In the course of that same morning we were allotted our uniforms. The
+Turkish uniform, under indirect German influence, has been greatly
+modified during the past five years. It is of khaki--a greener khaki
+than that of the British army, and of conventional European cut. Spiral
+puttees and good boots are provided; the only peculiar feature is the
+headgear--a curious, uncouth-looking combination of the turban and the
+German helmet, devised by Enver Pasha to combine religion and
+practicality, and called in his honor _enverieh_. (With commendable
+thrift, Enver patented his invention, and it is rumored that he has
+drawn a comfortable fortune from its sale.) An excellent uniform it is,
+on the whole; but, to our disgust, we found that in the great olive-drab
+pile to which we were led, there was not a single new one. All were old,
+discarded, and dirty, and the mere thought of putting on the clothes of
+some unknown Arab legionary, who, perhaps, had died of cholera at Mecca
+or Yemen, made me shudder. After some indecision, my friends and I
+finally went up to one of the officers and offered to _buy_ new uniforms
+with the money we expected daily from our families. The officer,
+scenting the chance for a little private profit, gave his consent.
+
+The days and weeks following were busy ones. From morning till night, it
+was drill, drill, and again drill. We were divided into groups of fifty,
+each of which was put in charge of a young non-commissioned officer from
+the Military School of Constantinople or Damascus, or of some Arab who
+had seen several years' service. These instructors had a hard time of
+it; the German military system, which had only recently been introduced,
+was too much for them. They kept mixing up the old and the new methods
+of training, with the result that it was often hopeless to try and make
+out their orders. Whole weeks were spent in grinding into the Arabs the
+names of the different parts of the rifle; weeks more went to teaching
+them to clean it--although it must be said that, once they had mastered
+these technicalities, they were excellent shots. Their efficiency would
+have been considerably greater if there had been more target-shooting.
+From the very first, however, we felt that there was a scarcity of
+ammunition. This shortage the drill-masters, in a spirit of
+compensation, attempted to make up by abundant severity. The whip of
+soft, flexible, stinging leather, which seldom leaves the Turkish
+officer's hand, was never idle. This was not surprising, for the Arab is
+a cunning fellow, whose only respect is for brute force. He exercises it
+himself on every possible victim, and expects the same treatment from
+his superiors.
+
+So far as my comrades and I were concerned, I must admit that we were
+generally treated kindly. We knew most of the drill-exercises from the
+gymnastic training we had practiced since childhood, and the officers
+realized that we were educated and came from respectable families. The
+same was also true with regard to the native Christians, most of whom
+can read and write and are of a better class than the Mohammedans of the
+country. When Turkey threw in her lot with the Germanic powers, the
+attitude toward the Jews and Christians changed radically; but of this I
+shall speak later.
+
+It was a hard life we led while in training at Saffed; evening would
+find us dead tired, and little disposed for anything but rest. As the
+tremendous light-play of the Eastern sunsets faded away, we would gather
+in little groups in the courtyard of our mosque--its minaret towering
+black against a turquoise sky--and talk fitfully of the little
+happenings of the day, while the Arabs murmured gutturally around us.
+Occasionally, one of them would burst into a quavering, hot-blooded
+tribal love-song. It happened that I was fairly well known among these
+natives through my horse Kochba--of pure Maneghi-Sbeli blood--which I
+had purchased from some Anazzi Bedouins who were encamped not far from
+Aleppo: a swift and intelligent animal he was, winner of many races, and
+in a land where a horse is considerably more valuable than a wife, his
+ownership cast quite a glamour over me.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE AUTHOR ON HIS HORSE KOCHBA]
+
+In the evenings, then, the Arabs would come up to chat. As they speak
+seldom of their children, of their women-folk never, the conversation
+was limited to generalities about the crops and the weather, or to the
+recitation of never-ending tales of Abou-Zeid, the famous hero of the
+Beni-Hilal, or of Antar the glorious. Politics, of which they have
+amazing ideas, also came in for discussion. Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen
+Victoria are still living figures to them; but (significantly enough)
+they considered the Kaiser king of all the kings of this world, with the
+exception of the Sultan, whom they admitted to equality.
+
+Seldom did an evening pass without a dance. As darkness fell, the Arabs
+would gather in a great circle around one of their comrades, who
+squatted on the ground with a bamboo flute; to a weird minor music they
+would begin swaying and moving about while some self-chosen poet among
+them would sing impromptu verses to the flute _obbligato_. As a rule the
+themes were homely.
+
+"To-morrow we shall eat rice and meat," the singer would wail.
+
+"_Yaha lili-amali"_ (my endeavor be granted), came the full-throated
+response of all the others. The chorus was tremendously effective.
+Sometimes the singer would indulge in pointed personalities, with
+answering roars of laughter.
+
+These dances lasted for hours, and as they progressed the men gradually
+worked themselves up into a frenzy. I never failed to wonder at these
+people, who, without the aid of alcohol, could reproduce the various
+stages of intoxication. As I lay by and watched the moon riding serenely
+above these frantic men and their twisting black shadows, I reflected
+that they were just in the condition when one word from a holy man would
+suffice to send them off to wholesale murder and rapine.
+
+It was my good fortune soon to be released from the noise and dirt of
+the mosque. I had had experience with corruptible Turkish officers; and
+one day, when barrack conditions became unendurable, I went to the
+officer commanding our division--an old Arab from Latakieh who had been
+called from retirement at the time of the mobilization. He lived in a
+little tent near the mosque, where I found him squatting on the floor,
+nodding drowsily over his comfortable paunch. As he was an officer of
+the old regime, I entered boldly, squatted beside him and told him my
+troubles. The answer came with an enormous shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"You are serving the Sultan. Hardship should be sweet!"
+
+"I should be more fit to serve him if I got more sleep and rest."
+
+He waved a fat hand about the tent.
+
+"Look at me! Here I am, an officer of rank and"--shooting a knowing
+look at me--"I have not even a nice blanket."
+
+"A crime! A crime!" I interrupted. "To think of it, when I, a humble
+soldier, have dozens of them at home! I should be honored if you would
+allow me--" My voice trailed off suggestively.
+
+"How could you get one?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, I have friends here in Saffed but I _must_ be able to sleep in a
+nice place."
+
+"Of course; certainly. What would you suggest?"
+
+"That hotel kept by the Jewish widow might do," I replied.
+
+More amenities were exchanged, the upshot of which was that my four
+friends and I were given permission to sleep at the inn--a humble place,
+but infinitely better than the mosque. It was all perfectly simple.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: SOLDIERS' TENTS IN SAMARIA]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA
+
+
+So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the
+fateful December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that
+Turkey was about to join hands with Germany. We had had reports of the
+war--of a kind. Copies of telegrams from Constantinople, printed in
+Arabic, were circulated among us, giving accounts of endless German
+victories. These, however, we had laughed at as fabrications of a
+Prussophile press agency, and in our skepticism we had failed to give
+the Teutons credit for the successes they had actually won. To us, born
+and bred in the East as we were, the success of German propaganda in the
+Turkish Empire could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its
+fullness amazed us.
+
+It may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding this
+propaganda as I have seen it in Palestine, spreading under strong and
+efficient organization for twenty years.
+
+In order to realize her imperialistic dreams, Germany absolutely needed
+Palestine. It was the key to the whole Oriental situation. No mere
+coincidence brought the Kaiser to Damascus in November, 1898,--the same
+month that Kitchener, in London, was hailed as Gordon's avenger,--when
+he uttered his famous phrase at the tomb of Saladin: "Tell the three
+hundred million Moslems of the world that I am their friend!" We have
+all seen photographs of the imperial figure, draped in an amazing
+burnous of his own designing (above which the Prussian _Pickelhaube_
+rises supreme), as he moved from point to point in this portentous
+visit: we may also have seen Caran d'Ache's celebrated cartoon (a
+subject of diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial
+figure, in its Oriental toggery, riding into Jerusalem on an ass.
+
+The nations of Europe laughed at this visit and its transparent purpose,
+but it was all part of the scheme which won for the Germans the
+concessions for the Konia-Bagdad Railway, and made them owners of the
+double valley of the Euphrates and Tigris. Through branch lines
+projected through the firman, they are practically in control of both
+the Syrian routes toward the Cypriotic Mediterranean and the Lebanon
+valleys. They also control the three Armenian routes of Cappadocia, the
+Black Sea, and the trans-Caucasian branch of Urfa, Marach, and Mardine.
+(The fall of Erzerum has altered conditions respecting this last.) They
+dominate the Persian routes toward Tauris and Teheran as well; and last,
+but not least, the Gulf branch of Zobeir. These railways delivered into
+German hands the control of Persia, whence the road to India may be made
+easy: through Syria lies the route to the Suez Canal and Egypt, which
+was used in February, 1915, and will probably be used again this year.
+
+To make this Oriental dream a reality, the Germans have not relied on
+their railway concessions alone. Their Government has done everything in
+its power to encourage German colonization in Palestine. Scattered all
+over the country are German mills that half of the time have nothing to
+grind. German hotels have been opened in places seldom frequented by
+tourists. German engineers appeared in force, surveying, sounding,
+noting. All these colonists held gatherings in the Arab villages, when
+the ignorant natives were told of the greatness of Germany, of her good
+intentions, and of the evil machinations of other powers. What I state
+here can be corroborated by any one who knows Palestine and has lived in
+it.
+
+About the time when we first knew that Turkey would join the Germanic
+powers came the news that the "Capitulations" had been revoked. As is
+generally known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the protection of their
+respective consuls. The Turkish Government, under the terms of the
+so-called Capitulations, or agreements, had no jurisdiction over an
+American, for instance, or a Frenchman, who could not be arrested
+without the consent of his consul. In the Ottoman Empire, where law and
+justice are not at a premium, such protection was a wholesome and
+necessary policy.
+
+The revoking of the Capitulations was a terrible blow to all the
+Europeans, meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their
+rights. Upon the Arabs it acted like an intoxicant. Every boot-black or
+boatman felt that he was the equal of the accursed Frank, who now had no
+consul to protect him; and abuses began immediately. Moreover, as if by
+magic, the whole country became Germanized. In all the mosques, Friday
+prayers were ended with an invocation for the welfare of the Sultan and
+"Hadji Wilhelm." The significance of this lies in the fact that the
+title "Hadji" can be properly applied only to a Moslem who has made the
+pilgrimage to Mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the Kaaba. Instant
+death is the penalty paid by any Christian who is found within that
+enclosure: yet Wilhelm II, head of the Lutheran faith, stepped forward
+as "Hadji Wilhelm." His pictures were sold everywhere; German officers
+appeared; and it seemed as if a wind of brutal mastery were blowing.
+
+The dominant figure of this movement in Palestine was, without doubt,
+the German Consul at Haifa, Leutweld von Hardegg. He traveled about the
+country, making speeches, and distributing pamphlets in Arabic, in which
+it was elaborately proved that Germans are not Christians, like the
+French or English, but that they are descendants of the prophet
+Mohammed. Passages from the Koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of
+the Kaiser as the Savior of Islam.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ROAD-MAKING AND DISCHARGE
+
+
+The news of the actual declaration of war by Turkey caused a tremendous
+stir in our regiment. The prevailing feeling was one of great
+restlessness and discontent. The Arabs made many bitter remarks against
+Germany. "Why didn't she help us against the Italians during the war for
+Tripoli?" they said. "Now that she is in trouble she is drawing us into
+the fight." Their opinions, however, soon underwent a change. In the
+first place, they came to realize that Turkey had taken up arms against
+Russia; and Russia is considered first and foremost the arch-enemy.
+German reports of German successes also had a powerful effect on them.
+They began to grow boastful, arrogant; and the sight of the plundering
+of Europeans, Jews, and Christians convinced them that a very desirable
+regime was setting in. Saffed has a large Jewish colony, and it was
+torment for me to have to witness the outrages that my people suffered
+in the name of "requisitioning."
+
+The final blow came one morning when all the Jewish and Christian
+soldiers of our regiment were called out and told that henceforth they
+were to serve in the _taboor amlieh_, or working corps. The object of
+this action, plainly enough, was to conciliate and flatter the
+Mohammedan population, and at the same time to put the Jews and
+Christians, who for the most part favored the cause of the Allies, in a
+position where they would be least dangerous. We were disarmed; our
+uniforms were taken away, and we became hard-driven "gangsters." I shall
+never forget the humiliation of that day when we, who, after all, were
+the best-disciplined troops of the lot, were first herded to our work of
+pushing wheelbarrows and handling spades, by grinning Arabs, rifle on
+shoulder. We were set to building the road between Saffed and Tiberias,
+on the Sea of Galilee--a link in the military highway from Damascus to
+the coast, which would be used for the movement of troops in case the
+railroad should be cut off. It had no immediate strategic bearing on the
+attack against Suez, however.
+
+From six in the morning till seven at night we were hard at it, except
+for one hour's rest at noon. While we had money, it was possible to get
+some slight relief by bribing our taskmasters; but this soon came to an
+end, and we had to endure their brutality as best we could. The
+wheelbarrows we used were the property of a French company which,
+before the war, was undertaking a highway to Beirut. No grease was
+provided for the wheels, so that there was a maddening squeaking and
+squealing in addition to the difficulty of pushing the barrows. One day
+I suggested to an inspection officer that if the wheels were not greased
+the axles would be burned out. He agreed with me and issued an order
+that the men were to provide their own oil to lubricate the wheels!
+
+I shall not dwell on the physical sufferings we underwent while working
+on this road, for the reason that the conditions I have described were
+prevalent over the whole country; and later, when I had the opportunity
+to visit some construction camps in Samaria and Judaea found that in
+comparison our lot had been a happy one. While we were breaking stones
+and trundling squeaking wheelbarrows, however, the most disquieting
+rumors began to drift in to us from our home villages. Plundering had
+been going on in the name of "requisitioning"; the country was full of
+soldiery whose capacity for mischief-making was well known to us, and it
+was torture to think of what might be happening in our peaceful homes
+where so few men had been left for protection. All the barbed-wire
+fences, we heard, had been torn up and sent north for the construction
+of barricades. In a wild land like Palestine, where the native has no
+respect for property, where fields and crops are always at the mercy of
+marauders, the barbed-wire fence has been a tremendous factor for
+civilization, and with these gone the Arabs were once more free to sweep
+across the country unhindered, stealing and destroying.
+
+The situation grew more and more unbearable. One day a little Christian
+soldier--a Nazarene--disappeared from the ranks. We never saw him again,
+but we learned that his sister, a very young girl, had been forcibly
+taken by a Turkish officer of the Nazareth garrison. In Palestine, the
+dishonor of a girl can be redeemed by blood alone. The young soldier had
+hunted for his sister, found her in the barracks, and shot her; he then
+surrendered himself to the military authorities, who undoubtedly put him
+to death. He had not dared to kill the real criminal,--the officer,--for
+he knew that this would not only bring death to his family, but would
+call down terrible suffering on all the Christians of Nazareth.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: NAZARETH, FROM THE NORTHEAST]
+
+When I learned of this tragedy, I determined to get out of the army and
+return to my village at all costs. Nine Turkish officers out of ten can
+be bought, and I had reason to know that the officer in command at
+Saffed was not that tenth man. Now, according to the law of the country,
+a man has the right to purchase exemption from military service for a
+sum equivalent to two hundred dollars. My case was different, for I was
+already enrolled; but everything is possible in Turkey. I set to work,
+and in less than two weeks I had bought half a dozen officers, ranging
+from corporal to captain, and had obtained consent of the higher
+authorities to my departure, provided I could get a physician's
+certificate declaring me unfit for service.
+
+This was arranged in short order, although I am healthy-looking and the
+doctor found some difficulty in hitting on an appropriate ailment.
+Finally he decided that I had "too much blood"--whatever that might
+mean. With his certificate in hand, I paid the regular price of two
+hundred dollars from funds which had been sent me by my family, and
+walked out of the barracks a free man. My happiness was mingled with
+sadness at the thought of leaving the comrades with whom I had suffered
+and hoped. The four boys from my village were splendid. They felt that I
+was right in going home to do what I could for the people, but when they
+kissed me good-bye, in the Eastern fashion, the tears were running down
+their cheeks; and they were all strong, brave fellows.
+
+On my way back to Zicron-Jacob, I passed through the town of Sheff'amr,
+where I got a foretaste of the conditions I was to find at home. A
+Turkish soldier, sauntering along the street, helped himself to fruit
+from the basket of an old vender, and went on without offering to pay a
+farthing. When the old man ventured to protest, the soldier turned like
+a flash and began beating him mercilessly, knocking him down and
+battering him until he was bruised, bleeding, and covered with the mud
+of the street. There was a hubbub; a crowd formed, through which a
+Turkish officer forced his way, demanding explanations. The soldier
+sketched the situation in a few words, whereupon the officer, turning to
+the old man, said impressively,--"If a soldier of the Sultan should
+choose to heap filth on your head, it is for you to kiss his hand in
+gratitude."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE HIDDEN ARMS
+
+
+When I finally reached Zicron-Jacob, I found rather a sad state of
+affairs. Military law had been declared. No one was supposed to be seen
+in the streets after sundown. The village was full of soldiers, and
+civilians had to put up with all kinds of ill-treatment. Moreover, our
+people were in a state of great excitement because an order had recently
+come from the Turkish authorities bidding them surrender whatever
+fire-arms or weapons they had in their possession. A sinister command,
+this: we knew that similar measures had been taken before the terrible
+Armenian massacres, and we felt that some such fate might be in
+preparation for our people. With the arms gone, the head men of the
+village knew that our last hold over the Arabs, our last chance for
+defense against sudden violence, would be gone, and they had refused to
+give them up. A house-to-house search had been made--fruitlessly, for
+our little arsenal was safely cached in a field, beneath growing grain.
+
+It was a tense, unpleasant situation. At any time the Turks might decide
+to back up their demand by some of the violent methods of which they
+are past masters. A family council was held in my home, and it was
+decided to send my sister, a girl of twenty-three, to some friends at
+the American Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, so that we might be
+able to move freely without the responsibility of having a girl at home,
+in a country where, as a matter of course, the women-folk are seized and
+carried off before a massacre. At Beirut we knew that there was an
+American Consul-General, who kept in continual touch with the battleship
+anchored in the harbor for the protection of American interests.
+
+My sister got away none too soon. One evening shortly after her
+departure, when I was standing in the doorway of our house watching the
+ever fresh miracle of the Eastern sunset, a Turkish officer came riding
+down the street with about thirty cavalrymen. He called me out and
+ordered me to follow him to the little village inn, where he dismounted
+and led me to one of the inner rooms, his spurs jingling loudly as we
+passed along the stone corridor.
+
+I never knew whether I had been selected for this attention because of
+my prominence as a leader of the Jewish young men or simply because I
+had been standing conveniently in the doorway. The officer closed the
+door and came straight to the point by asking me where our store of
+arms was hidden. He was a big fellow, with the handsome, cruel features
+usual enough in his class. There was no open menace in his first
+question. When I refused to tell him, he began wheedling and offering
+all sorts of favors if I would betray my people. Then, all of a sudden,
+he whipped out a revolver and stuck the muzzle right in my face. I felt
+the blood leave my heart, but I was able to control myself and refuse
+his demand. The officer was not easily discouraged; the hours I passed
+in that little room, with its smoky kerosene lamp, were terrible ones. I
+realized, however, how tremendously important the question of the arms
+was, and strength was given me to hold out until the officer gave up in
+disgust and let me go home.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: HOUSE OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, EPHRAIM FISHL AARONSOHN, IN
+ZICRON-JACOB]
+
+My father, an old man, knew nothing of what had happened, but the rest
+of my family were tremendously excited. I made light of the whole
+affair, but I felt sure that this was only the beginning. Sure enough,
+next morning--the Sabbath--the same officer returned and put three of
+the leading elders of the village, together with myself, under arrest.
+After another fruitless inquisition at the hotel, we were handcuffed and
+started on foot toward the prison, a day's journey away. As our little
+procession passed my home, my father, who was aged and feeble, came
+tottering forward to say good-bye to me. A soldier pushed him roughly
+back; he reeled, then fell full-length in the street before my eyes.
+
+It was a dismal departure. We were driven through the streets shackled
+like criminals, and the women and children came out of the houses and
+watched us in silence--their heads bowed, tears running down their
+cheeks. They realized that for thirty-five years these old men, my
+comrades, had been struggling and suffering for their ideal--a
+regenerated Palestine; now, in the dusk of their life, it seemed as if
+all their hopes and dreams were coming to ruin. The oppressive tragedy
+of the situation settled down on me more and more heavily as the day
+wore on and heat and fatigue told on my companions. My feelings must
+have been written large on my face, for one of them, a fine-looking
+patriarch, tried to give me comfort by reminding me that we must not
+rely upon strength of arms, and that our spirit could never be broken,
+no matter how defenseless we were. Thus he, an old man, was encouraging
+me instead of receiving help from my youth and enthusiasm.
+
+At last we arrived at the prison and were locked into separate cells.
+That same night we were tortured with the _falagy_, or bastinado. The
+victim of this horrible punishment is trussed up, arms and legs, and
+thrown on his knees; then, on the bare soles of his feet a pliant green
+rod is brought down with all the force of a soldier's arm. The pain is
+exquisite; blood leaps out at the first cut, and strong men usually
+faint after thirty or forty strokes. Strange to say, the worst part of
+it is not the blow itself, but the whistling of the rod through the air
+as it rushes to its mark. The groans of my older comrades, whose gasps
+and prayers I could hear through the walls of the cell, helped me bear
+the agony until unconsciousness mercifully came to the rescue.
+
+For several days more we were kept in the prison, sick and broken with
+suffering. The second night, as I lay sleepless and desperate on the
+strip of dirty matting that served as bed, I heard a scratch-scratching
+at the grated slit of a window, and presently a slender stick was
+inserted into the cell. I went over and shook it; some one at the other
+end was holding it firm. And then, a curious whispering sound began to
+come from the end of the stick. I put my ear down, and caught the voice
+of one of the men from our village. He had taken a long bamboo pole,
+pierced the joints, and crept up behind a broken old wall close beneath
+my window. By means of this primitive telephone we talked as long as we
+dared. I assured him that we were still enduring, and urged him on no
+account to give up the arms to the Turkish authorities--not even if we
+had to make the ultimate sacrifice.
+
+Finally, when it was found that torture and imprisonment would not make
+us yield our secret, the Turks resorted to the final test--the ordeal
+which we could not withstand. They announced that on a certain date a
+number of our young girls would be carried off and handed over to the
+officers, to be kept until the arms were disclosed. We knew that they
+were capable of carrying out this threat; we knew exactly what it meant.
+There was no alternative. The people of our village had nothing to do
+but dig up the treasured arms and, with broken hearts, hand them over to
+the authorities.
+
+And so the terrible news was brought to us one morning that we were
+free. Personally, I felt much happier on the day I was put in prison
+than when I was released. I had often wondered how our people had been
+able to bear the rack and thumbscrew of the Spanish Inquisition; but
+when my turn and my comrades' came for torture, I realized that the same
+spirit that helped our ancestors was working in us also.
+
+Now I knew that our suffering had been useless. Whenever the Turkish
+authorities wished, the horrors of the Armenian massacres would live
+again in Zicron-Jacob, and we should be powerless to raise a hand to
+protect ourselves. As we came limping home through the streets of our
+village, I caught sight of my own Smith & Wesson revolver in the hands
+of a mere boy of fifteen--the son of a well-known Arab outlaw. I
+realized then that the Turks had not only taken our weapons, but had
+distributed them among the natives in order to complete our humiliation.
+The blood rushed to my face. I started forward to take the revolver away
+from the boy, but one of the old men caught hold of my sleeve and held
+me back.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: IN A NATIVE CAFE, SAFFED/A LEMONADE-SELLER OF DAMASCUS]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SUEZ CAMPAIGN
+
+
+I have already spoken of the so-called "requisitioning" that took place
+among our people while I was working at Saffed. This, of course, really
+amounted to wholesale pillage. The hand of the Turkish looters had
+fallen particularly heavy on carts and draught animals. As the Arabs
+know little or nothing of carting, hauling, or the management of horses
+and mules, the Turks, simply enough, had "requisitioned" many of the
+owners--middle-aged or elderly men--and forced them to go south to help
+along with the tremendous preparations that were being made for the
+attack on Suez. Among these were a number of men from our village. In
+the course of time their families began to get the most harrowing
+messages from them. They were absolutely destitute, no wages being paid
+them by the Turks; their clothes were dropping off them in rags; many
+were sick. After much excited planning, it was decided to send another
+man and myself down south on a sort of relief expedition, with a
+substantial sum of money that had been raised with great difficulty by
+our people. Through the influence of my brother at the Agricultural
+Experiment Station, I got permission from the _mouchtar_ to leave
+Zicron-Jacob, and about the middle of January, 1915, I set out for
+Jerusalem.
+
+To Western minds, the idea of the Holy City serving as a base for modern
+military operations must be full of incongruities. And, as a matter of
+fact, it _was_ an amazing sight to see the streets packed with
+khaki-clad soldiers and hear the brooding silence of ancient walls
+shattered by the crash of steel-shod army boots. Here, for the first
+time, I saw the German officers--quantities of them. Strangely out of
+place they looked, with their pink-and-whiteness that no amount of hot
+sunshine could quite burn off. They wore the regular German officer's
+uniform, except that the _Pickelhaube_ was replaced by a khaki
+sun-helmet. I was struck by the youthfulness of them; many were nothing
+but boys, and there were weak, dissolute faces in plenty--a fact that
+was later explained when I heard that Palestine had been the
+dumping-ground for young men of high family whose parents were anxious
+to have them as far removed as possible from the danger zone. Fast's
+Hotel was the great meeting-place in Jerusalem for these young bloods.
+Every evening thirty or forty would foregather there to drink and talk
+women and strategy. I well remember the evening when one of them--a
+slender young Prussian with no back to his head, braceleted and
+monocled--rose and announced, in the decisive tones that go with a
+certain stage of intoxication: "What we ought to do is to hand over the
+organization of this campaign to Thomas Cook & Sons!"
+
+However, the German officers were by no means all incompetents. They
+realized (I soon found out) that they had little hope of bringing a big
+army through the Egyptian desert and making a successful campaign there.
+Their object was to immobilize a great force of British troops around
+the Canal, to keep the Mohammedan population in Palestine impressed with
+Turkish power, and to stir up religious unrest among the natives in
+Egypt. It must be admitted that in the first two of these purposes they
+have been successful.
+
+The Turks were less far-sighted. They believed firmly that they were
+going to sweep the English off the face of the earth and enter Cairo in
+triumph, and preparations for the march on Suez went on with feverish
+enthusiasm. The ideas of the common soldiers on this subject were
+amusing. Some of them declared that the Canal was to be filled up by the
+sandbags which had been prepared in great quantities. Others held that
+thousands of camels would be kept without water for many days preceding
+the attack; then the thirsty animals, when released, would rush into the
+Canal in such numbers that the troops could march to victory over the
+packed masses of drowned bodies.
+
+The army operating against Suez numbered about one hundred and fifty
+thousand men. Of these about twenty thousand were Anatolian
+Turks--trained soldiers, splendid fighting material, as was shown by
+their resistance at the Dardanelles. The rest were Palestinian Arabs,
+and very inferior troops they were. The Arab as a soldier is at once
+stupid and cunning: fierce when victory is on his side, but unreliable
+when things go against him. In command of the expedition was the famous
+Djemal Pasha, a Young Turk general of tremendous energy, but possessing
+small ability to see beyond details to the big, broad concepts of
+strategy. Although a great friend of Enver Pasha, he looked with
+disfavor on the German officers and, in particular, on Bach Pasha, the
+German Governor of Jerusalem, with whom he had serious disagreements.
+This dislike of the Germans was reflected among the lesser Turkish
+officers. Many of these, after long years of service, found themselves
+subordinated to young foreigners, who, in addition to arbitrary
+promotion, received much higher salaries than the Turks. What is more,
+they were paid in clinking gold, whereas the Turks, when paid at all,
+got paper currency.
+
+Beersheba, a prosperous town of the ancient province of Idumea, was the
+southern base of operations for the advance on Suez. Some of our
+villagers had been sent to this district, and, in searching for them, I
+had the opportunity of seeing at least the taking-off place of the
+expedition. Beyond this point no Jew or Christian was allowed to pass,
+with the exception of the physicians, all of whom were non-Mohammedans
+who had been forced into the army.
+
+Beersheba was swarming with troops. They filled the town and overflowed
+on to the sands outside, where a great tent-city grew up. And everywhere
+that the Turkish soldiers went, disorganization and inefficiency
+followed them. From all over the country the finest camels had been
+"requisitioned" and sent down to Beersheba until, at the time I was
+there, thousands and thousands of them were collected in the
+neighborhood. Through the laziness and stupidity of the Turkish
+commissariat officers, which no amount of German efficiency could
+counteract, no adequate provision was made for feeding them, and
+incredible numbers succumbed to starvation and neglect. Their great
+carcasses dotted the sand in all directions; it was only the wonderful
+antiseptic power of the Eastern sun that held pestilence in check.
+
+The soldiers themselves suffered much hardship. The crowding in the
+tents was unspeakable; the water-supply was almost as inadequate as the
+medical service, which consisted chiefly of volunteer Red Crescent
+societies--among them a unit of twenty German nurses sent by the
+American College at Beirut. Medical supplies, such as they were, had
+been taken from the different mission hospitals and pharmacies of
+Palestine--these "requisitions" being made by officers who knew nothing
+of medical requirements and simply scooped together everything in sight.
+As a result, one of the army physicians told me that in Beersheba he had
+opened some medical chests consigned to him and found, to his horror,
+that they were full of microscopes and gynecological instruments--for
+the care of wounded soldiers in the desert!
+
+Visits of British aeroplanes to Beersheba were common occurrences. Long
+before the machine itself could be seen, its whanging, resonant hum
+would come floating out of the blazing sky, seemingly from everywhere at
+once. Soldiers rushed from their tents, squinting up into the heavens
+until the speck was discovered, swimming slowly through the air; then
+followed wholesale firing at an impossible range until the officers
+forbade it. True to the policy of avoiding all unnecessary harm to the
+natives, these British aviators never dropped bombs on the town,
+but--what was more dangerous from the Turkish point of view--they would
+unload packages of pamphlets, printed in Arabic, informing the natives
+that they were being deceived; that the Allies were their only true
+friends; that the Germans were merely making use of them to further
+their own schemes, etc. These cleverly worded little tracts came
+showering down out of the sky, and at first they were eagerly picked up.
+The Turkish commanders, however, soon announced that any one found
+carrying them would pay the death penalty. After that, when the little
+bundles dropped near them, the natives would, run as if from high
+explosive bombs.
+
+All things considered, it is wonderful that the Turkish demonstration
+against the Canal came as near to fulfillment as it did. Twenty thousand
+soldiers actually crossed the desert in six days on scant rations, and
+with them they took two big guns, which they dragged by hand when the
+mules dropped from thirst and exhaustion. They also carried pontoons to
+be used in crossing the Canal. Guns and pontoons are now at rest in the
+Museum at Cairo.
+
+Just what took place in the attack is known to very few. The English
+have not seen fit to make public the details, and there was little to be
+got from the demoralized soldiers who returned to Beersheba. Piece by
+piece, however, I gathered that the attacking party had come up to the
+Canal at dawn. Finding everything quiet, they set about getting across,
+and had even launched a pontoon, when the British, who were lying in
+wait, opened a terrific fire from the farther bank, backed by armored
+locomotives and aeroplanes. "It was as if the gates of Jehannum were
+opened and its fires turned loose upon us," one soldier told me.
+
+The Turks succeeded in getting their guns into action for a very short
+while. One of the men-of-war in the Canal was hit; several houses in
+Ismailia suffered damage; but the invaders were soon driven away in
+confusion, leaving perhaps two thousand prisoners in the hands of the
+English. If the latter had chosen to do so, they could have annihilated
+the Turkish forces then and there. The ticklish state of mind of the
+Mohammedan population in Egypt, however, has led them to adopt a policy
+of leniency and of keeping to the defensive, which subsequent
+developments have more than justified. It is characteristic of England's
+faculty for holding her colonies that batteries manned by Egyptians did
+the finest work in defense of the Canal.
+
+The reaction in Palestine after the defeat at Suez was tremendous. Just
+before the attack, Djemal Pasha had sent out a telegram announcing the
+overwhelming defeat of the British vanguard, which had caused wild
+enthusiasm. Another later telegram proclaimed that the Canal had been
+reached, British men-of-war sunk, the Englishmen routed--with a loss to
+the Turks of five men and two camels, "which were afterwards recovered."
+"But," added the telegram, "a terrible sand-storm having arisen, the
+glorious army takes it as the wish of Allah not to continue the attack,
+and has therefore withdrawn in triumph."
+
+These reports hoodwinked the ignorant natives for a little while, but
+when the stream of haggard soldiers, wounded and exhausted, began
+pouring back from the south, they guessed what had happened, and a
+fierce revulsion against the Germano-Turkish regime set in. A few weeks
+before the advance on Suez, I was in Jaffa, where the enthusiasm and
+excitement had been at fever-pitch. Parades and celebrations of all
+kinds in anticipation of the triumphal march into Egypt were taking
+place, and one day a camel, a dog, and a bull, decorated respectively
+with the flags of Russia, France, and England, were driven through the
+streets. The poor animals were horribly maltreated by the natives, who
+rained blows and flung filth upon them by way of giving concrete
+expression to their contempt for the Allies. Mr. Glazebrook, the
+American Consul at Jerusalem, happened to be with me in Jaffa that day;
+and never shall I forget the expression of pain and disgust on his face
+as he watched this melancholy little procession of scapegoats hurrying
+along the street.
+
+Now, however, all was changed. The Arabs, who take defeat badly, turned
+against the authorities who had got them into such trouble. Rumors
+circulated that Djemal Pasha had been bought by the English and that the
+defeat at Suez had been planned by him, and persons keeping an ear close
+to the ground began to hear mutterings of a general massacre of Germans.
+In fact, things came within an ace of a bloody outbreak. I knew some
+Germans in Jaffa and Haifa who firmly believed that it was all over with
+them. In the defeated army itself the Turkish officers gave vent to
+their hatred of the Germans. Three German officers were shot by their
+Turkish comrades during the retreat, and a fourth committed suicide.
+However, Djemal Pasha succeeded in keeping order by means of stern
+repressive methods and by the fear roused by his large body-guard of
+faithful Anatolians.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: RAILROAD STATION SCENE BETWEEN HAIFA AND DAMASCUS/CAMELS
+BRINGING IN NEWLY CUT TREES, DAMASCUS]
+
+We felt sure that the Turkish defeat would put a damper on the arrogance
+of the soldiery. But even the Mohammedan population were hoping that the
+Allies would push their victory and land troops in Syria and Palestine;
+for though they hated the infidel, they loved the Turk not at all, and
+the country was exhausted and the blockade of the Mediterranean by the
+Allies prevented the import and export of articles. The oranges were
+rotting on the trees because the annual Liverpool market was closed to
+Palestine, and other crops were in similar case. The country was short,
+too, of petroleum, sugar, rice, and other supplies, and even of matches.
+We had to go back to old customs and use flint and steel for fire, and
+we seldom used our lamps. Money was scarce, too, and, Turkey having
+declared a moratorium, cash was often unobtainable even by those who had
+money in the banks, and much distress ensued.
+
+As the defeated army was pouring in from the south, I decided to leave
+Beersheba and go home. The roads and the fields were covered with dead
+camels and horses and mules. Hundreds of soldiers were straggling in
+disorder, many of them on leave but many deserting. Soon after the
+defeat at the Canal several thousand soldiers deserted, but an amnesty
+was declared and they returned to their regiments.
+
+When I arrived at Jerusalem I found the city filled with soldiers.
+Djemal Pasha had just returned from the desert, and his quarters were
+guarded by a battery of two field guns. Nobody knew what to expect; some
+thought that the country would have a little more freedom now that the
+soldiery had lost its braggadocio, while others expected the lawlessness
+that attends disorganization. I went to see Consul Glazebrook. He is a
+true American, a Southerner, formerly a professor of theology at
+Princeton. He was most earnest and devoted in behalf of the American
+citizens that came under his care, rendering at Jerusalem the same sort
+of service that Ambassador Morgenthau has rendered at Constantinople. He
+was practically the only man who stood up for the poor, defenseless
+people of the city. He received me kindly, and I told him what I knew of
+conditions in the country, what I had heard among the Arabs, and of my
+own fears and apprehensions. He was visibly impressed and he advised me
+to see Captain Decker, of the U.S.S. Tennessee, who was then in Jaffa,
+promising to write himself to the captain of my proposed visit.
+
+I went to Jaffa the same day and after two days' delay succeeded in
+seeing Captain Decker, with the further help of Mr. Glazebrook, who took
+me with him. The police interfered and tried to keep me from going
+aboard the ship, but after long discussions I was permitted to take my
+place in the launch that the captain had sent for the consul.
+
+Captain Decker was interested in what I had to say, and at his request I
+dictated my story to his stenographer. What became of my report I do not
+know,--whether it was transmitted to the Department of State or whether
+Captain Decker communicated with Ambassador Morgenthau,--but at all
+events we soon began to see certain reforms inaugurated in parts of the
+country, and these reforms could have been effected only through
+pressure from Constantinople. The presence of the two American cruisers
+in the Mediterranean waters has without any doubt been instrumental in
+the saving of many lives.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS
+
+
+While I was traveling in the south, another menace to our people's
+welfare had appeared: the locusts. From the Soudan they came in
+tremendous hosts--black clouds of them that obscured the sun. It seemed
+as if Nature had joined in the conspiracy against us. These locusts were
+of the species known as the pilgrim, or wandering, locust; for forty
+years they had not come to Palestine, but now their visitation was like
+that of which the prophet Joel speaks in the Old Testament. They came
+full-grown, ripe for breeding; the ground was covered with the females
+digging in the soil and depositing their egg-packets, and we knew that
+when they hatched we should be overwhelmed, for there was not a foot of
+ground in which these eggs were not to be found.
+
+The menace was so great that even the military authorities were obliged
+to take notice of it. They realized that if it were allowed to fulfill
+itself, there would be famine in the land, and the army would suffer
+with the rest. Djemal Pasha summoned my brother (the President of the
+Agricultural Experiment Station at Athlit) and intrusted him with the
+organization of a campaign against the insects. It was a hard enough
+task. The Arabs are lazy, and fatalistic besides; they cannot understand
+why men should attempt to fight the _Djesh Allah_ ("God's Army"), as
+they call the locusts. In addition, my brother was seriously handicapped
+by lack of petroleum, galvanized iron, and other articles which could
+not be obtained because of the Allies' blockade.
+
+In spite of these drawbacks, however, he attempted to work up a
+scientific campaign. Djemal Pasha put some thousands of Arab soldiers at
+his disposition, and these were set to work digging trenches into which
+the hatching locusts were driven and destroyed. This is the only means
+of coping with the situation: once the locusts get their wings, nothing
+can be done with them. It was a hopeless fight. Nothing short of the
+cooeperation of every farmer in the country could have won the day; and
+while the people of the progressive Jewish villages struggled on to the
+end,--men, women, and children working in the fields until they were
+exhausted,--the Arab farmers sat by with folded hands. The threats of
+the military authorities only stirred them to half-hearted efforts.
+Finally, after two months of toil, the campaign was given up and the
+locusts broke in waves over the countryside, destroying everything. As
+the prophet Joel said, "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the
+corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.... The
+land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate
+wilderness."
+
+Not only was every green leaf devoured, but the very bark was peeled
+from the trees, which stood out white and lifeless, like skeletons. The
+fields were stripped to the ground, and the old men of our villages, who
+had given their lives to cultivating these gardens and vineyards, came
+out of the synagogues where they had been praying and wailing, and
+looked on the ruin with dimmed eyes. Nothing was spared. The insects, in
+their fierce hunger, tried to engulf everything in their way. I have
+seen Arab babies, left by their mothers in the shade of some tree, whose
+faces had been devoured by the oncoming swarms of locusts before their
+screams had been heard. I have seen the carcasses of animals hidden from
+sight by the undulating, rustling blanket of insects. And in the face of
+such a menace the Arabs remained inert. With their customary fatalism
+they accepted the locust plague as a necessary evil. They could not
+understand why we were so frantic to fight it. And as a matter of fact,
+they really got a good deal out of the locusts, for they loved to feast
+upon the female insects. They gathered piles of them and threw them upon
+burning charcoal, then, squatting around the fire, devoured the roasted
+insects with great gusto. I saw a fourteen-year-old boy eat as many as a
+hundred at a sitting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE LEBANON
+
+
+During the locust invasion my brother sent me on an inspection tour to
+investigate the ravages of the insect in Syria. With an official
+_boyouroulton_ (passport) in my pocket, I was able to travel all over
+the country without being interfered with by the military authorities. I
+had an excellent opportunity to see what was going on everywhere. The
+locusts had destroyed everything from as far south as the Egyptian
+desert to the Lebanon Mountains on the north; but the locust was not the
+only, nor the worst, plague that the people had to complain of. The
+plundering under the name of "military requisitions," the despotic rule
+of the army officers, and the general insecurity were even more
+desolating.
+
+As I proceeded on my journey northward, I hoped to find consolation and
+brighter prospects in the independent province of the Lebanon. Few
+Americans know just what the Lebanon is. From the repeated allusions in
+the Bible most people imagine it to be nothing but a mountain. The truth
+is that a beautiful province of about four thousand square miles bears
+that name. The population of the Lebanon consists of a Christian sect
+called Maronites and the Druses, the latter a people with a secret
+religion the esoteric teachings of which are known only to the
+initiated, and never divulged to outsiders. Both these peoples are
+sturdy, handsome folk. Through the machinations of the Turks, whose
+policy is always to "divide and rule," the Maronites were continually
+fighting against the Druses. In 1860 Turkish troops joined with the
+Druses and fell upon the Maronites with wholesale massacres that spread
+as far south as Damascus, where ten thousand Christians were killed in
+two days.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN THE LEBANON]
+
+The European powers were moved at last. Fifty warships were sent to
+Beirut, and ten thousand French troops were landed in the Lebanon, to
+create order. Under the pressure of the European powers the Sublime
+Porte was forced to grant an autonomy for the province of the Lebanon.
+The French, English, German, Russian, Austrian, and, a year later, the
+Italian, Governments were signing the guaranty of this autonomy.
+
+Since then the Lebanon has had peace. The Governor of the province must
+always be a Christian, but the General Council of the Lebanon includes
+representatives of all the different races and religions of the
+population. A wonderful development began with the liberation from
+Turkish oppression. Macadamized roads were built all over the province,
+agriculture was improved, and there was complete safety for life and
+property. There is a proverb now in Palestine and Syria which says, "In
+the Lebanon a virgin may travel alone at midnight and be safe, and a
+purse of gold dropped in the road at midday will never be stolen." And
+the proverb told the literal truth.
+
+When one crossed the boundary from Turkish Palestine into the Lebanon
+province, what a change met his eyes!--peaceful and prosperous villages,
+schools filled with children, immense plantations of mulberry trees and
+olives, the slopes of the mountains terraced with beautiful vineyards, a
+handsome and sturdy population, police on every road to help the
+stranger, and young girls and women with happy laugh and chatter working
+in the fields. With a population of about six hundred thousand this
+province exported annually two million dollars' worth of raw silk,
+silkworm-raising being a specialty of the Lebanon.
+
+When autonomy was granted the Lebanon, French influence became
+predominant among the Maronites and other Christians of the province.
+French is spoken by almost all of them, and love for France is a
+deep-rooted sentiment of the people. On the other hand, the Druses feel
+the English influence. For the last sixty years England has been the
+friend of the Druses, and they have not forgotten it.
+
+It may be worth while to tell in a few words the story of one man who
+accomplished wonders in spreading the influence of his country. Sir
+Richard Wood was born in London, a son of Catholic parents. From his
+early boyhood he aspired to enter the diplomatic service. The East
+attracted him strongly, and in order to learn Arabic he went with
+another young Englishman to live in the Lebanon. In Beirut they sought
+the hospitality of the Maronite patriarch. For a few days they were
+treated with lavish hospitality, and then the patriarch summoned them
+before him and told them that they must leave the city within
+twenty-four hours. The reason for their disgrace they discovered later.
+Not suspecting that they were being put to the test, they had eaten meat
+on a Friday, and this made the patriarch think that they were not true
+Catholics, but were there as spies.
+
+Leaving Beirut in haste, Wood and his friend sought shelter with the
+Druses, who received them with open arms. For two years Wood lived
+among the Druses, in the village of Obey. There he learned Arabic and
+became thoroughly acquainted with the country and with the ways of the
+Druses, and there he conceived the idea of winning the Druses for
+England to counteract the influence of the French Maronites. He went
+back to London, where he succeeded in impressing his views upon the
+Foreign Office, and he returned to Syria charged with a secret mission.
+Before long he persuaded the Druse chieftains to address a petition to
+England asking for British protection.
+
+British protection was granted, and for over thirty years Richard Wood,
+virtually single-handed, shaped the destiny of Syria. It was he who
+broke the power of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet Ali; it was he who
+guided Admiral Stopford in the bombardment of Beirut; it was he, again,
+who brought about the landing of English troops in Syria in 1841; we
+find him afterwards in Damascus as British Consul, and wherever he went
+he was always busy spreading English power and prestige. He understood
+the East thoroughly and felt that England must be strong in Syria if she
+wished to retain her imperial power. It is very unfortunate that the
+policy of Sir Richard Wood was not carried out by his nation.
+
+It was with high hopes and expectations that I approached the Lebanon.
+I was looking forward to the moment when I should find myself among
+people who were free from the Turkish yoke, in a country where I should
+be able to breathe freely for a few hours.
+
+But how great was my consternation, when, on entering the Lebanon, I
+found on all the roads Turkish soldiers who stopped me every minute to
+ask for my papers! Even then I could not realize that the worst had
+happened. Of course, rumors of the Turkish occupation of the Lebanon had
+reached us a few weeks before, but we had not believed it, as we knew
+that Germany and Austria were among those who guaranteed the autonomy of
+the Lebanon. It was true, however; the scrap of paper that guaranteed
+the freedom of the Lebanon had proved of no more value to the Lebanese
+than had that other scrap of paper to Belgium. As I entered the
+beautiful village of Ed-Damur, one of the most prosperous and enchanting
+places on earth, I saw entire regiments of Turkish troops encamped in
+and about the village.
+
+While I was watering my horse, I tried to ask questions from a few
+inhabitants. My fair hair and complexion and my khaki costume made them
+take me for a German, and they barely answered me, but when I addressed
+them in French their faces lit up. For the Lebanon, for all it is
+thousands of miles away from France, is nevertheless like a French
+province. For fifty years the French language and French culture have
+taken hold of the Lebanon. No Frenchman has more love for and faith in
+France than lie in the hearts of the Lebanese Christians. They have
+never forgotten that when massacres were threatening to wipe out all the
+Christians of the Lebanon, ten thousand French soldiers swept over the
+mountains to spread peace, life, and French gayety.
+
+And when the poor people heard the language they loved, and when they
+found out that I too was the son of an oppressed and ruined community,
+all the sadness and bitterness of their hearts was told me,--how the
+Turkish soldiers had spread over the beloved mountains of Lebanon; how
+the strong, stalwart young Lebanese had been taken away from the
+mountains and forced into the Turkish army; how the girls and women were
+hiding in their homes, afraid to be seen by the soldiers and their
+officers; how the chieftains were imprisoned and even hanged; and how
+violence and pillage had spread over the peaceful country.[Footnote:
+Since the above was written the American press has chronicled many
+atrocities committed in the Lebanon. The execution of leaders and the
+complete blockade of the mountains by the Turkish authorities resulted
+in the starving of eighty thousand Lebanese. The French Government has
+warned Turkey through the American Ambassador that the Turks will be
+held accountable for their deeds.]
+
+I could not help wondering at the mistakes of the Allies. If they had
+understood the situation in Palestine and Syria, how differently this
+war might have eventuated! The Lebanon and Syria would have raised a
+hundred thousand picked men, if the Allies had landed in Palestine. The
+Lebanon would have fought for its independence as heroically as did the
+Belgians. Even the Arab population would have welcomed the Allies as
+liberators. But alas!
+
+With a saddened heart I pursued my journey into Beirut. My coming was a
+joyful surprise to my sister. Many sad things had happened since she had
+last seen me. During my imprisonment she had suffered tortures, not
+knowing what would happen to me, and now that she saw me alive she cried
+from happiness. She told me how kindly she had been treated by President
+Bliss, of the Syrian Protestant College, and of all the good things the
+college had done.
+
+What a blessing the college was for the people of Beirut! Many
+unfortunate people were saved from prison and hardships through the
+intervention of President Bliss. He never tired of rendering service,
+wonderful personal service. But alas, even his influence and power began
+to wane. The American prestige in the country was broken, and the
+Turkish Government no longer respected the American flag. An order
+issued from Constantinople demanded that the official language of the
+college be Turkish instead of English, and Turkish officers even dared
+to enter the college premises to search for citizens belonging to the
+belligerent nations, without troubling to ask permission from the
+American Consul.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: HAIFA]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A ROBBER BARON OF PALESTINE
+
+
+Beirut is a city of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, half of whom
+are Christians and the rest Mohammedans and Jews. The pinch of hunger
+was already felt there. Bread was to be had only on tickets issued by
+the Government, and prices in general were extremely high. The
+population were discontented and turbulent, and every day thousands of
+women came before the governor's residence to cry and protest against
+the scarcity of bread.
+
+The Allies' warships often passed near the town, but the people were not
+afraid of them, for it was known that the Allies had no intention of
+bombarding the cities. Only once had a bombardment taken place. Toward
+the end of March, 1915, a French warship approached the bay of Haifa and
+landed an officer with a letter to the commandant of that town giving
+notice of his intention to bombard the German Consulate at 3 P.M. sharp.
+This was in retaliation for the propaganda carried on by the consul,
+Leutweld von Hardegg, and chiefly because of his desecration of the
+grave of Bonaparte's soldiers. The consul had time to pack up his
+archives and valuables, and he left his house before three. The
+bombardment began exactly at three. Fifteen shells were fired with a
+wonderful precision. Not one house in the neighborhood of the consulate
+was touched, but the consulate itself was a heap of ruins after a few
+shells had struck it. The population was exceedingly calm. Only the
+German colony was panic-stricken, and on every German house an American
+flag was raised. It was rather humorous to see all the Germans who were
+active in the Turkish army in one capacity or another seek safety by
+means of this trick.
+
+This bombardment had a sobering effect upon the Mohammedan population.
+They saw that the Allies were not wholly ignorant of what was going on
+in the country and that they could retaliate, and safety for the
+non-Mohammedans increased accordingly.
+
+In general Beirut was a rather quiet and safe place. The presence of an
+American cruiser in the port had much to do with that. The American
+sailors were allowed to come ashore three times a week, and they spent
+their money lavishly. It was estimated that Beirut was getting more than
+five thousand dollars a week out of them. But the natives were
+especially impressed by the manliness and quick action of the American
+boys. Frequently a few sailors were involved in a street fight with
+scores of Arabs, and they always held their own. In a short time the
+Americans became feared, which in the Orient is equivalent to saying
+they were respected. The Beirut people are famous for their fighting
+spirit, but this spirit was not manifested after a few weeks of intimate
+acquaintance with the American blue-jackets.
+
+My inspection of the devastation caused by the locusts completed, I
+returned home. The news that greeted me there was alarming. I must
+narrate with some detail the events which finally decided me to leave
+the country. About one hour's ride on horseback from our village lives a
+family of Turkish nobles, the head of which was Sadik Pasha, brother of
+the famous Kiamil Pasha, several times Grand Vizier of the Empire.
+Sadik, who had been exiled from Constantinople, came to Palestine and
+bought great tracts of land near my people. After his death his
+sons--good-for-nothing, wild fellows--were forced to sell most of the
+estate--all except one Fewzi Bey, who retained his part of the land and
+lived on it. Here he collected a band of friends as worthless as himself
+and gradually commenced a career of plundering and "frightfulness" much
+like that of the robber barons of mediaeval Germany. Before the
+outbreak of the war he confined his attentions chiefly to the Arabs,
+whom he treated shamefully. He raided cattle and crops and carried off
+girls and women in broad daylight. On one occasion he stopped a wedding
+procession and carried off the young bride. Then he seized the
+bridegroom, against whom he bore a grudge, and subjected the poor
+Bedouin to the bastinado until he consented to divorce his wife by
+pronouncing the words, "I divorce thee," three times in the presence of
+witnesses, according to Mohammedan custom. This Bedouin was the grandson
+of the Sheikh Hilou, a holy man of the region upon whose grave the Arabs
+are accustomed to make their prayers. But we villagers of Zicron-Jacob
+had never submitted to Fewzi Bey in any way; our young men were
+organized and armed, and after a few encounters he let us alone.
+
+After the mobilization, however, and the taking away of our arms, this
+outlaw saw that his chance had come. He began to send his men and his
+camels into our fields to harvest our crops and carry them off. This
+pillage continued until the locusts came--Fewzi, in the mean while,
+becoming so bold that he would gallop through the streets of our village
+with his horsemen, shooting right and left into the air and insulting
+old men and women. He boasted--apparently with reason--that the
+authorities at Haifa were powerless to touch him.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: HAIFA AND THE BAY OF AKKA. LOOKING EAST FROM MOUNT
+CARMEL]
+
+There was one hope left. Djemal Pasha had boasted that he had introduced
+law and order; the country was under military rule; it remained to see
+what he would say and do when the crimes of Fewzi Bey were brought to
+his notice. Accordingly, armed with my _boyouroulton_, or passport, of a
+locust-inspector, I rode to Jerusalem, where I procured, through my
+brother, who was then in favor, an interview with Djemal Pasha. He
+received me on the very day of my arrival, and listened attentively
+while for a whole hour I poured out the story of Fewzi Bey's outrages. I
+put my whole heart into the plea and wound up by asking if it was to the
+credit of the progressive Young Turks to shelter feudal abuses of a
+bygone age. Djemal seemed to be impressed. He sprang from his chair,
+began walking up and down the room; then with a great dramatic gesture
+he exclaimed, "Justice shall be rendered!" and assured me that a
+commission of army officers would be sent at once to start an
+investigation. I returned to Zicron-Jacob with high hopes.
+
+Sure enough, a few days later Fewzi Bey was summoned to Jerusalem; at
+the same time the "commission," which had dwindled to one single officer
+on secret mission, put in an appearance and began to make inquiries
+among the natives. He got little satisfaction at first, for they lived
+in mortal terror of the outlaw; they grew bolder, however, when they
+learned his purpose. Complaints and testimonies came pouring in, and in
+four days the officer had the names of hundreds of witnesses,
+establishing no less than fifty-two crimes of the most serious nature.
+Fewzi's friends and relatives, in the mean while, were doing their
+utmost to stem the tide of accusations. The Kaimakam (lieutenant-
+governor) of Haifa came in person to our village and threatened the
+elders with all sorts of severities if they did not retract the charges
+they had made. But they stood firm. Had not Djemal Pasha, commander-in-
+chief of the armies in Palestine, given his word of honor that we should
+have redress?
+
+We were soon shown the depth of our naivete in fancying that justice
+could be done in Turkey by a Turk. Fewzi Bey came back from Jerusalem,
+not in convict's clothes, but in the uniform of a Turkish officer!
+Djemal Pasha had commissioned him commandant of the Moujahaddeen
+(religious militia) of the entire region! It was bad enough to stand him
+as an outlaw; now we had to submit to him as an officer. He came riding
+into our village daily, ordering everybody about and picking me out for
+distinguished spitefulness.
+
+My position soon became unbearable. I was, of course, known as the
+organizer of the young men's union which for so long had put up a
+spirited resistance to Fewzi; I was still looked upon as a leader of the
+younger spirits, and I knew that sooner or later Fewzi would try to make
+good his threat, often repeated, that he would "shoot me like a dog." It
+was hardly likely that an open attempt on my life would be made. When
+Ambassador Morgenthau visited Palestine, he had stayed in our village
+and given my family the evidence of his sincere friendship. These things
+count in the East, and I soon got the reputation of having influential
+friends. However, there were other ways of disposing of me. One evening,
+about sunset, while I was riding through a valley near our village, my
+horse shied violently in passing a clump of bushes. I gave him the spur
+and turned and rode toward the bushes just in time to see a horseman
+dash out wildly with a rifle across his saddle. I kept the incident to
+myself, but I was more cautious and kept my eyes open wherever I went.
+One afternoon, a fortnight later, as I was riding to Hedera, another
+Jewish village, two hours' ride away, a shot was fired from behind a
+sand-dune. The bullet burned a hole in the lapel of my coat.
+
+That night I had a long talk with my brother. There was no doubt
+whatever in his mind that I should try to leave the country, while I, on
+the contrary, could not bear to think of deserting my people at the
+crisis of their fortunes. It was a beautiful night, such a night, I
+think, as only Palestine can show, a white, serene, moon-bathed night.
+The roar of the Mediterranean came out of the stillness as if to remind
+us that help and salvation could come only from the sea, the sea upon
+which scores of the warships of the Allies were sailing back and forth.
+We had argued into the small hours before I yielded to his persuasion.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE BAZAAR OF JAFFA ON A MARKET DAY]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A RASH ADVENTURE
+
+
+It was all very well to decide to leave the country; to get safely away
+was a different matter. There were two ways out. One of these--the land
+route by Constantinople--could not be considered. The other way was to
+board one of the American cruisers which, by order of Ambassador
+Morgenthau, were empowered to assist citizens of neutral countries to
+leave the Ottoman Empire. These cruisers had already done wonderful
+rescue work for the Russian Jews in Palestine, who, when war was
+declared, were to have been sent to the Mesopotamian town of Urfa--there
+to suffer massacre and outrage like the Armenians. This was prevented by
+Mr. Morgenthau's strenuous representations, with the result that these
+Russian Jews were gathered together as in a great drag-net and herded to
+Jaffa, amidst suffering unspeakable. There they were met by the American
+cruisers which were to transport them to Egypt. Up to the very moment
+when they set foot on the friendly warships they were robbed and
+horribly abused by the Jaffa boatmen. The eternal curse of the
+Wandering Jew! Driven from Russia, they come to seek shelter in Turkey;
+Turkey then casts them from her under pretext that they are loyal to
+Russia. Truly, the Jew lifts his eyes to the mountains, asking the
+ancient and still unanswered question, "Whence shall come my help?"
+
+The Turkish Government later repented of its leniency in allowing these
+Russian Jews to escape, and gave orders that only neutrals should leave
+the country--and then only under certain conditions. I was not a
+neutral; my first papers of American citizenship were valueless to
+further my escape. I had heard, however, that the United States cruiser
+Tennessee was to call at Jaffa, and I determined to get aboard her by
+hook or by crook. One evening, as soon as darkness had fallen, I bade a
+sorrowful farewell to my people, and set off for Jaffa, traveling only
+by night and taking out-of-the-way paths to avoid the pickets, for now
+that the locust campaign was over, my _boyouroulton_ was useless. At
+dawn, two days later, I slipped into Jaffa by way of the sand-dunes and
+went to the house of a friend whom I could trust to help me in every
+possible way, and begged him to find me a passport for a neutral. He set
+off in search and I waited all day at his house, consumed with
+impatience and anxiety. At last, toward evening, my friend returned,
+but the news he brought was not cheering. He had found a passport,
+indeed, but his report of the rigors of the inspection at the wharf was
+such as to make it clear that the chances of my getting through on a
+false passport were exceedingly slim, since I was well known in Jaffa.
+If I were caught in such an undertaking, it might mean death for me and
+punishment for the friends who had helped me.
+
+Evidently this plan was not feasible. All that night I racked my brain
+for a solution. Finally I decided to stake everything on what appeared
+to be my only chance. The Tennessee was due on the next day but one,
+early in the morning. I gave my friend the name of a boatman who was
+under obligations to me and had sworn to be my friend for life or death.
+Even under the circumstances I hesitated to trust a Mohammedan, but it
+seemed the only thing to do; I had no choice left. My friend brought the
+boatman, and I put my plan before him, appealing to his daring and his
+sense of honor. I wanted him to take me at midnight in his fishing-boat
+from an isolated part of the coast and wait for the appearance of the
+Tennessee; then, on her arrival, amid the scramble of boats full of
+refugees, I was to jump aboard, while he would return with the other
+boats. The poor fellow tried to remonstrate, pointing out the dangers
+and what he called--rightly enough, doubtless--the folly of the plan. I
+stuck to it, however, making it clear that his part would be well paid
+for, and at last he consented and we arranged a meeting-place behind the
+sand-dunes by the shore.
+
+I put a few personal belongings into a little suit-case and had my
+friend give it to one of the refugees who was to sail on the Tennessee.
+If I succeeded, I was to recover it when we reached Egypt. The only
+thing I took with me was the paper which declared my "intention of
+becoming an American citizen," the "first paper." From this document I
+was determined not to part. I shall not tell how I kept it on me, as the
+means I used may still be used by others in concealing such papers and a
+disclosure of the secret might bring disaster to them. Suffice it to say
+that I had the paper with me and that no search would have brought it to
+light.
+
+Arrived next morning at the appointed place, I gave the signal agreed
+upon, the whine of a jackal, and, after repeating it again and again, I
+heard a very low and muffled answer. My boatman was there! I had some
+fear that he might have betrayed me and that I should presently see a
+soldier or policeman leap out of the little boat, but my fears proved
+groundless, the man was faithful.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: STORMY SEA BREAKING OVER ROCKS OFF JAFFA]
+
+We rowed out quietly, our boat a little nutshell on the tossing waves.
+But I was relieved; the elements did not frighten me; on the contrary, I
+felt secure and refreshed in the midst of the sea. When morning began to
+dawn, scores of little boats came out of the harbor and circled about
+waiting for the cruiser. This was our chance. I crouched in the bottom
+of our boat and to all appearances my boatman was engaged merely in
+fishing. After I had lain there over an hour with my heart beating like
+a drum and with small hopes for the success of my undertaking, I heard
+at last the whistle of the approaching cruiser followed by a Babel of
+mad shouting and cursing among the boatmen. In the confusion I felt it
+safe to sit up. No one paid the slightest attention to me. All were
+engaged in a wild race to reach and mount the Tennessee's ladder. I
+scrambled up with the rest, and when, on the deck, an officer demanded
+my passport, I put on a bold front and asked him to tell Captain Decker
+that Mr. Aaronsohn wished to see him.
+
+Ten minutes later I stood in the captain's cabin. There I unfolded my
+story, and wound up by asking him if, under the circumstances, my "first
+papers" might not entitle me to protection. As I spoke I could see the
+struggle that was going on within him. When he answered it was to
+explain, with the utmost kindness, that if he took me aboard his ship it
+would be to forfeit his word of honor to the Turkish Government, his
+pledge to take only citizens of neutral countries; that he could not
+consider me an American on the strength of my first papers; and that any
+such evasion might lead to serious complications for him and for his
+Government. Well, there was nothing for me to do but to withdraw and go
+back to Jaffa to face trial for an attempt to escape.
+
+When I reached the deck again I found it swarming with refugees, many of
+whom knew me and came up to congratulate me on getting away. I could
+only shake my head and with death in my heart descend the Tennessee's
+ladder. It did not matter now what boat I took. Any boatman was eager
+enough to take me for a few cents. As I sat in the boat, every stroke of
+the oars bringing me nearer to the shore and to what I felt was
+inevitable captivity, a great bitterness swelled my heart. I was tired,
+utterly tired of all the dangers and trials I had been going through for
+the last months. From depression I sank into despair and out of despair
+came, strange to say, a great serenity, the serenity of despair.
+
+On the quay I ran into Hassan Bey, commandant of the police, who was
+superintending the embarkation of refugees. I knew him and he knew me.
+Half an hour later I was in police headquarters under examination by
+Hassan Bey. I was desperate, and answered him recklessly. A seasick man
+is indifferent to shipwreck. This was the substance of our
+conversation:--
+
+"How did you get aboard the ship?"
+
+"In a boat with some refugees. A woman hid me with her skirts."
+
+"So you were trying to escape, were you?"
+
+"If I had been, I shouldn't have come back."
+
+"Then what did you do on the cruiser?"
+
+"I went to talk to the captain, who is a friend of mine. My life is in
+danger. Fewzi Bey is after me, and I wanted _my friends in America_ to
+know how justice is done in Palestine."
+
+"Who are your friends in America?"
+
+"Men who could break you in a minute."
+
+"Do you know to whom you are speaking?"
+
+"Yes, Hassan Bey. I am sick of persecution. I wish you would hang me
+with your own hands as you hanged the young Christian; my friends would
+have your life for mine."
+
+I wonder now how I dared to speak to him in this manner. But the bluff
+carried. Hassan Bey looked at me curiously for a moment--then smiled
+and offered me a cigarette, assuring me that he believed me a loyal
+citizen, and declaring he felt deeply hurt that I had not come to him
+for permission to visit the cruiser. We parted with a profusion of
+Eastern compliments, and that evening I started back to Zicron-Jacob.
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: THE AUTHOR'S SISTER ON HER HORSE TAYAR]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ESCAPE
+
+
+The failure of my attempt to leave the country only sharpened my desire
+to make another trial. The danger of the enterprise tended to reconcile
+me to deserting my family and comrades and seeking safety for myself. As
+I racked my brain for a promising plan, a letter came from my sister in
+Beirut with two pieces of news which were responsible for my final
+escape. The American College was shortly to close for the summer, and
+the U.S.S. Chester was to sail for Alexandria with refugees aboard.
+Beirut is a four days' trip from our village, and roads are unsafe. It
+was out of the question to permit my sister to come home alone, and it
+was impossible for any of us to get leave to go after her; nor did we
+want to have her at home in the unsettled condition of the country. I
+began wondering if I could not possibly get to Beirut and get my sister
+aboard the Chester, which offered, perhaps, the last opportunity to go
+out with the refugees. It would be a difficult undertaking but it might
+be our only chance and I quickly made up my mind to carry it out if it
+were a possible thing. I had to act immediately; no time was to be
+lost, for no one could tell how soon the Chester might sail.
+
+My last adventure had been entered upon with forebodings, but now I felt
+that I should succeed. To us Orientals intuition speaks in very audible
+tones and we are trained from childhood to listen to its voice. It was
+with a feeling of confidence in the outcome, therefore, that I bade this
+second good-bye to my family and dearest friends. Solemn hours they
+were, these hours of farewell, hours that needed few words. Then once
+more I slipped out into the night to make my secret way to Beirut.
+
+It was about midnight when I left home, dressed in a soldier's uniform
+and driving a donkey before me. I traveled only by night and spent each
+day in hiding in some cave or narrow valley where I could sleep with
+some measure of security. For food I had brought bread, dried figs, and
+chocolate, and water was always to be found in little springs and pools.
+In these clear, warm nights I used to think of David, a fugitive and
+pursued by his enemies. How well I could now understand his despairing
+cry: "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?... How long shall
+mine enemy be exalted over me?"
+
+Five nights I journeyed, and at last one morning beautiful Beirut
+appeared in the distance and I found myself in the forest of pines that
+leads into the city. The fresh dawn was filled with the balmy breath of
+the pines and all the odors of the Lebanon. Driving my donkey before me,
+I boldly approached the first picket-house and saluted the
+non-commissioned officer in military fashion. He stopped me and asked
+whence I came and where I was going. I smiled sweetly and replied that I
+was the orderly of a German officer who was surveying the country a few
+hours to the south and that I was going to Beirut for provisions. Then I
+lighted a cigarette and sat down for a chat. After discussing politics
+and the war for a few minutes, I jumped up, exclaiming that if I didn't
+hurry I should be late, and so took my departure. It was all so simple,
+and it brought me safely to Beirut. My donkey, having served the purpose
+for which I had brought him, was speedily abandoned, and I hurried to a
+friend's house, where I exchanged my uniform for the garb of a civilian.
+
+My sister was the most surprised person on earth when she saw me walking
+into her room, and, when I told her that I wanted her to go with me on
+the Chester, she thought me crazy, for she knew that hundreds of persons
+were trying in vain to find means of leaving the country and it seemed
+to her impossible that we, who were Turkish subjects, could succeed in
+outwitting the authorities. Even when I had explained my plans and she
+was willing to admit the possibility of success, she still felt doubts
+as to whether it would be right for her to leave the country while her
+friends were left behind in danger. I assured her, however, that our
+family would feel relieved to know that we were in safety and could come
+back fresh and strong after the war to help in rebuilding the country.
+
+Having gained her consent, I still had the difficult problem of ways and
+means before me. The Chester had orders to take citizens of neutral
+countries only. Passports had to be examined by the Turkish authorities
+and by the American Consul-General, who gave the final permission to
+board the cruiser. How was I to pass this double scrutiny? After long
+and arduous search, with the assistance of several good friends, I at
+last discovered a man who was willing to sell me the passports of a
+young couple belonging to a neutral nation. I cannot go into particulars
+about this arrangement, of course. Suffice it to say that my sister was
+to travel as my wife and that we both had to disguise ourselves so as to
+answer the descriptions on the passports. When I went to the American
+Consulate-General to get the permit, I found the building crowded with
+people of all nations,--Spanish and Greek and Dutch and Swiss,--all
+waiting for the precious little papers that should take them aboard the
+American cruiser, that haven of liberty and safety. The Chester was to
+take all these people to Alexandria, and those who had the means were to
+be charged fifty cents a day for their food. From behind my dark goggles
+I recognized many a person in disguise like myself and seeking escape.
+We never betrayed recognition for fear of the spies who infested the
+place.
+
+After securing my permit, I ran downstairs and straight to "my" consul,
+whose dragoman I took along with me to the _seraya_, or government
+building. Of course, the dragoman was well tipped and he helped me
+considerably in hastening the examination I had to undergo at the hands
+of the Turkish officials. All went well, and I hurried back to my sister
+triumphant.
+
+The Chester was to sail in two days, but while we were waiting, the
+alarming news came that the American Consul had been advised that the
+British Government refused to permit the landing of the refugees in
+Egypt and that the departure of the Chester was indefinitely postponed.
+With a sinking at my heart I rushed up to the American Consulate for
+details and there learned that the U.S.S. Des Moines was to sail in a
+few hours for Rhodes with Italian and Greek refugees and that I could
+go on her if I wished. In a few minutes I had my permit changed for the
+trip on the Des Moines and I hurried home to my sister. We hastily got
+together the few belongings we were to take with us, jumped into a
+carriage, and drove to the harbor.
+
+We had still another ordeal to go through. My sister was taken into a
+private room and thoroughly searched; so was I. Nobody could leave the
+country with more than twenty-five dollars in cash on his person. Our
+baggage was carefully overhauled. No papers or books could be taken. My
+sister's Bible was looked upon with much suspicion since it contained a
+map of ancient Canaan. I explained that this was necessary for the
+orientation of our prayers and that without it we could not tell in
+which direction to turn our faces when praying! This seemed plausible to
+the Moslem examiners and saved the Bible, the only book we now possess
+as a souvenir from home. Now our passports were examined again and
+several questions were asked. My sister was brave and self-possessed,
+cool and unconcerned in manner, and at last the final signature was
+affixed and we jumped into the little boat that was to take us out to
+the ship.
+
+At this moment a man approached, a dry-goods dealer of whom my sister
+had made some purchases a few months before. He seemed to recognize her
+and he asked her in German if she were not Miss Aaronsohn. I felt my
+blood leave my face, and, looking him straight in the eye, I whispered,
+"If you say one word more, you will be a dead man; so help me God!" He
+must have felt that I meant exactly what I said, for he walked off
+mumbling unintelligibly.
+
+At last the boat got away, and five minutes later we were mounting the
+side of the Des Moines. Throngs of refugees covered the decks of the
+cruiser. Their faces showed tension and anxiety. Their presence there
+seemed too good to be true, and all awaited the moment when the ship
+should heave anchor. A Filipino sailor showed us about, and as he spoke
+Italian, I told him I wanted to be hidden somewhere till the ship got
+under way. I felt that even yet we were not entirely safe. That my fears
+were justified I discovered shortly, when from our hiding-place I saw
+the shopkeeper approaching in a small boat with a Turkish officer. They
+looked over all the refugees on the deck, but searched for us in vain.
+After a half-hour more of uncomfortable tension the engines began to
+sputter, the propellers revolved, and--we were safe!
+
+[ILLUSTRATION: BEIRUT, FROM THE DECK OF AN OUTGOING STEAMER]
+
+The day was dying and a beautiful twilight softened the outlines of the
+Lebanon and the houses of Beirut. The Mediterranean lay quiet and
+peaceful around us, and the healthy, sturdy American sailors gave a
+feeling of confidence. As the cruiser drew out of the harbor, a great
+cry of farewell arose from the refugees on board, a cry in which was
+mingled the relief of being free, anguish at leaving behind parents and
+friends, fear and hope for the future. A little later the sailors were
+lined up in arms to salute the American flag when it was lowered for the
+night. Moved by a powerful instinct of love and respect, all the
+refugees jumped to their feet, the men bareheaded and the women with
+folded hands, and in that moment I understood as I had never understood
+before the real sacred meaning of a flag. To all those people standing
+in awe about that piece of cloth bearing the stars and stripes America
+was an incarnation of love universal, of freedom and salvation.
+
+The cool Syrian night, our first night on the cruiser, was spent in
+songs, hymns, and conversation. We were all too excited to sleep.
+Friends discovered friends and tales of woe were exchanged, stories of
+hardship, injustice, oppression, all of which ended with mutual
+congratulations on escaping from the clutches of the Turks.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's With the Turks in Palestine, by Alexander Aaronsohn
+
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