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 famine and disease, or the felling of olives and mulberry-trees for fuel, grave dislocations have been caused by the interruption of overseas communications. On the one hand, the supply of many commodities, some of vital importance, has been cut off; on the other, several of the most flourishing industries have temporarily lost their market; fer example, the Lebanese silk and the oranges of Jaffa. The orange plantations have, moreover, been much damaged by the failure of irrigatior consequent on the deficiency of petrol.

Some possibilities of commercial development have been briefly discussed in the section on openings for investments (p. 144 above). In general, the industrial and commercial future of Syria is closely bound up with political conditions. in Palestine the situation would be transformed by Jewish immigration on a large scale, while dependence in any way upon the British Empire would no doubt greatly strengthen the ties with Egypt, which are already close.