Evening star., 1925-10-24
Questions of Trusteeship.

The actual bit of stone or the rub
biSh heap we want TO clean up MAY.
it is true. belong to some Greek or
Moslem or Jew. but the Armenian.
the English Protestant. the Abyssn-
ian, the American missionary, the Ital-
ian, the Wakf in India, the Copt, the
other fellow somewhere-they will
have n word to say on the matter
and before we do anything we must
wait to hear it.
And last, there has been the fact
that has necessarily modified alike the
enterprise of the Pro-Jerusalem So
ciety and the administration-ther
has been very little money with which
to do anything. Although this Grip
pies us in historical research. yet in
many instances il has proved a pro
lection against ill-considered enter
prise and vandalism. At least We
have one great power, and that is
prohibiting unintelligent or destructive
action. At least we can stop foolish
or wanton things from being done
But we have made some headwaN
just the same. Effective work has
been done to the great gates of Jaffa.
Damascus and Herod. As result or
the work OF the society the Palestine
Town Planning Commission has been
appointed and an ordinance passed
The commission. inaugurated only
three years ago. has established the
new town boundaries, has zoned the
city in general outline and. has pu!
through a new body of bylaws and
regulations that shall give effect to the
law. 1t has laid out and aligned eighI
sections Of the new city.
To Be Removed.
For the first time a correct suryey
has been made. After q long and
careful study. roads were set where
they should go in conformity with
beauty spots. Historic buildings have
been linked up. We still have to tear
down and clear away all the uglE
things and make the private individ-
ual give way to the public interest.
1T is impossible TO get out of the
hard rut Of existing roads. All We
can DO is to widen them a little. Il
is difficult. often impossible, to touch
buildings that are in the hands OF II
ligious bodies. We still do not havs
enough money for administrative Nia
chinery TO keep historic buildings il
proper repair, and many Of the fines
things still remain in private hands.
The business, after all, is not
merely drawing the city plan on paper,
The real work is to shape it toward 4
more or less ideal end.
IN arranging for our parks you
can imagine how far we have ad-
vanced when in 1921 we planted ! ,2S3
trees and We had 332 failures: the
following year only thirty-eight fail
ures out of 1903 trees. Two nurseries
have been established, one at the
Citadel Garden. Many beautiful park
are being planned in the vicinity in
and out Of the old city.
''As TO our markets. they have pro
gressed slowly only because OF the
lack Of funds. Perhaps there is moth
ing that needs development as badl,
as these. Various schemes for MAJ
keting Improvements are before us
The most important is the one at Da
mascus Gate. We hope 10 clean UP
all the unsightly shops and corrugated
iron buildings that disfSure Damas-
Gus Gate, and also 10 accommodate the
Bedoins and their camels that enter
the city here in great numbers
List of Streets.
One of the most interesting iobs
that have been accomplished by tls
town planning commission is the
naming OF the streets. which has
never been done in Jerusalem. Al
ready 40 streets have been named in
the old city and so in the new IN
most cases the signs are painted in
ceramics and set in the streets. The
list is full of history, poetry and folk
lore For example, in the old city.
names of some of the streets are
Honor Lane, Street of the Chain.
Christian street, Jew street. Black
smiths lane. Watermelon alley, Storl
lane. Via Dolorosa, Dancing Dervish
street, etc. And in the new city such
streets are AlIenby Square. Agrippa's
Way, Street of the Prophets, Omar's
Way.
The names have to be in three Of
fetal languages, and the three tradI
tions. Christian Moslem and Jewish
so far as possible, have 10 be pre-
served. Not only that, their connota
tions in the language in which they
had no precise meaning had often Ia
be sought out. Here was scope no.
only for scholarship. but acute politi
cal division. and the subcommittee
had on several occasions to be steered
over very dangerous rocks.
The Pro-Jerusalem Society has en-
deavored TO promote the interests OF
weaving. ceramics, glass. painters. tile
makers. blacksmiths, cabinetmakers.
upholSterers. etc, and the high com
missioner appointed a special commits
sion to investigate the various crafts.
including those mentioned. in relation
to agriculture.
The findings are of considerable
interest Some questions of the future
Palestine have presented themselves
to this commission.
s'Is the life to be agricultural or
industrial? Can il be both? If moi
TO what extent is the former to be de
pendent upon Western induStrialism.
The whole Zionist problem is involved
in this, for it means the life Of the
Jewish colonies. Are they going TO
continue to be dependent on outside
support? Will they develop mechan-
ical power intelligently? VIII they
practice by-crafts, as the Palestine
peasant has done for thousands or
wears? Here are involved not only
vital problems in the theory Of civics,
but the Zionist question itself is in
volved, and the mandate for Palestine
Jewish Town Plans.
Among the most interesting de
velopments in the modern construc-
ton work of Jerusalem are the val
ious plans and proposals for building
upon which different Jewish groups
are engaged. and they have beer
working in cooperation with the town
planning commission. There are, so
far. five such schemes-Antiochus.
Talpioth. JanjIrieh, Boneh Bayit and
Antimus Porah. They might be termed
garden cities"
Each one of them has definite
plan. For example. at Talploth there
are 500 private plots with houses.
town and hotel, baths, post office. Co
operative distributing store for food
stuffs. theater, academy, synagogue
and hospital.
This planning and dreaming are
symbolic of Zionist activities and 1t
is interesting to note how these are
already modifying the town plans OF
Jerusalem.
Another one, for example, is
Boneh Bayit. which means Garden