Page:Syria and Palestine WDL11774.pdf/72

 of the Jews of Palestine. The foundation-stone of a Jewish University in Jerušalem was laid in 1918.

Other Educational Agencies.—German Protestant Missions have about 14 elementary schools in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem and in Haifa and Beirut, and an orphanage with a normal department attached in Jerusalem.

The Jaffa Gymnasium is chiefly Russian. The Greeks also have made provision for the education of their co-religionists and nationals in Palestine.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

It is impossible to speak of any common national sentiment in Syria, since its population consists of so many diverse elements, often with conflicting interests and ideals. It may, however, be roughly divided for the present purpose into (i) Moslem, (ii) Christian (including Orthodox and Catholic), and (iii) Jewish. Each of these must be considered separately.

(i) Moslems

The majority of the population of Syria is Moslem; but it is by no means homogeneous in race, mentality, or organization, even in Palestine. Some West Syrians, who advocate the doctrine of "la Syrie intégrale," preach that Palestine is part of Syria, and that all the land from Alexandretta to Jaffa and from Aleppo to Ma'an is one country that can become a homogeneous state or nation. But such a policy could hardly be realised, even if there were no such things as the Arab and Zionist movements; and the existence of these movements makes it impossible. The people west of the Jordan are not Arabs, but only Arab-speaking. The bulk of the population are fellahin; that is to say, agricultural workers owning land as a village community or working land for the Syrian effendi. In the Gaza district they are mostly of Égyptian origin; elsewhere they are of the most mixed race. They have for