Palestine]
centuries been ground down, overtaxed, and bullied by the Turk, and still more by the Arab-speaking Turkish minor official and by the Syrian and Levantine landowner. They have little, if any, national sentiment, and would probably welcome any stable form of government which would guarantee to them reasonable security and enjoyment of the fruits of their labour. A nebulous Syrian sentimentalism originated in Beirut, among a class of lawyers and traders, with no civilisation of their own, and demoralised by 500 years of Turkish misrule. They, like the Moslem effendi class in Palestine, and particularly the educated Moslem-Levantine population of Jaffa, evince a feeling somewhat akin to hostility towards the Arab movement, very similar to the feeling prevalent in Cairo and Alexandria. This class, while regretting the opportunities for illegitimate gain offered by Turkish rule, has no real political cohesion, and, above all, no power of organization. There is, however, a very widespread fear among the Moslem landowners that the progress of Zionism is inimical to their interests; and societies have been formed to organize resistance to the sale of land to the Jews.
A satisfactory solution of the West Syrian problem, which involves the territory north of the Litani river and west of the Rayak-Homs railway, is a matter for arrangement, now that Syria is definitely cleared of the Turks. As one goes eastward from the watershed which divides the Mediterranean from the Jordan valley, there is an increasing proportion of Arabs; and Trans-Jordania is an Arab country. The Arab movement is becoming increasingly national; its goal is Arab independence, free from British or French protection. It has as its aim the rehabilitation of the Arab nation, and the restoration of Damascus as a centre of Arab learning and culture (cf. p. 63) and an independent Arab capital.
