Jerusalem in 1917 (letter)

by Murray Mitchell

News Weekly, September 2, 2006
Sir,

Regarding Mark Braham's article, "The endless mutations of anti-Semitism" (News Weekly, August 19, 2006), my dictionary explains that "Semitic" refers to Hebrews, Arameans, Phoenicians, Arabs and Assyrians. So what price "racism" among that lot?

Your accompanying picture shows General Allenby entering Jerusalem on December 11, 1917. Light Horseman J.E. Fowler, in his Looking Backwards, makes an interesting statement in that, on arrival at Damascus later, they had to wait two days for the Arabs to arrive so that they could "take" the city, as agreed with Britain.

But, as the writer says, "The fighting the Arabs did on the long ride from Amman was almost nil."

Murray Mitchell,
Bairnsdale, Vic.