The Handbook of Palestine/Introduction
INTRODUCTION
If I were called upon to express in a single word the distinguishing characteristic of Palestine I should say Diversity—diversity of religions, diversity of civilizations, diversity of climate, diversity of physical characteristics. If the traveller wishes for coolness in the summer, he may live 3,000 feet above the level of the sea; if he wishes for warmth in the winter, he may live 1,000 feet below. He may find among the Beduin of Beersheba precisely the conditions that prevailed in the time of Abraham; at Bethlehem he may see the women's costumes, and, in some respects, the mode of living of the period of the Crusaders; the Arab villages are, for the most part, still under mediaeval conditions; the towns present many of the problems of the early nineteenth century; while the new arrivals from Eastern and Central Europe, and from America, bring with them the activities of the twentieth century, and sometimes, perhaps, the ideas of the twenty-first. Indeed, it is true to say that in Palestine you can choose the climate, or the century, that you prefer. And these conditions are found in a country so small that it is easy to motor in a single day from the northernmost town to the southernmost, and in a morning from the eastern boundary to the sea.
These diversities would be enough to lend to Palestine an unusual interest; but her position as the birthplace of religions renders that interest unique. Still farther is it enhanced by the conditions of the present time.
Palestine has witnessed many and great changes in the four thousand years of her recorded history. But it is necessary to go back to the time of the Crusades for a change as fundamental as that which is involved in the ending of the Turkish Administration and the substitution of a British Mandate. An era of new development opens widely before her. A multitude of new problems arise. To the importance of the country as a centre of religious associations, new political and economic considerations are added.
In these circumstances a Handbook of Palestine—accurate and readable as this Handbook is—will be of service; both to those whose interest is distant, and to those who, more fortunate, are able to visit the country, to experience the charm of its scenery and climate, to come into contact with its history, to study at first hand the many complexities of its present-day problems, and, above all, to hear the voice of its spiritual appeal.
HERBERT SAMUEL.