Page:Harry Charles Luke and Edward Keith-Roach - The Handbook of Palestine (1922).djvu/47

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
28
THE HANDBOOK OF PALESTINE

was soon moved to the German Lazarist Hospice of S. Paul, by the Damascus Gate.

The part of Palestine already occupied was divided into the following districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Hebron and Beersheba. This division continued in vigour until Lord Allenby's great drive in September, 1918, when the remainder of Palestine, Syria and Cilicia were cleared of the Turks. Thereupon Military Governors were posted to Nablus, Jenin, Tulkeram, Haifa, Nazareth, Acre, Tiberias, and Safed.

In 1919 the districts were reduced from thirteen to ten by the amalgamation of Acre with Haifa and of Tiberias and Safed with Nazareth, and were again reduced, on the establishment of the Civil Government on the 1st July, 1920, from ten to seven by the absorption of Jenin into Nablus, of Tulkeram into Haifa and Jaffa, and of Hebron into Jerusalem, when the seven official districts consequently became Jerusalem, Jaffa, Beersheba, Gaza, Phoenicia (Haifa), Galilee (Nazareth) and Samaria (Nablus).

As a general rule Municipal Councils continued in office and, at the expiration of their period of office, were replaced by nomination by the Military Governor. In some cases the Administration advanced subsidies in order to assist Municipalities to meet the demands of the Public Health Authorities for a higher standard of sanitation.

As far as was compatible with the military nature of the occupation and with the peculiar political conditions of Palestine, the Ottoman codes of law were applied to the country. Early in 1918 a Legal Adviser was appointed, and the Courts, whose action had been interrupted for a few weeks only, were again set going, so far as possible, with Palestinian judges and officers, superintended by trained British officers.

The Police were recruited partly from the better and more active elements of the former Turkish police and gendarmerie, partly from the Palestinian population.

Among the other institutions with which the military authorities endowed the country may be cited public