File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎143r] (294/834)

- 127 —
(
are not accustomed to the heat, which obtains on the Palestinian
lowlands in the summer, now imminent. Moreover, the nearer the
camp to the Trans-Jordan lands and the more visible the hills of Salt,
the more likely that from time to time, families would creep back
homewards of their own motion, automatically reducing our
responsibility and our difficulties of supply. Wherever the camp
is, it is not to be enclosed, and no impediment is to be offered to
families or individuals taking themselves off, provided they
understand that they fend thereafter for their own living,
whether as harvesters for hire, or by self-repatriation. Even if
Salt be thought too dangerous, the Madeba and Kerak districts
will attract some who feel home-sick ; and there is little doubt
that, should the present Turkish reoccupying force be withdrawn,
for any reason, from Salt, many refugee families would chance
trouble with Circassians and other Moslems who have remained
at their home, and go back as their harvest season draws near.
Unfortunately, however, the highland districts of Judaea under
our effective control are ill-watered, where readily accessible to
transport vehicles. The Bethlehem area, for example, which
seems suitable on other grounds, has barely enough water for its
existing inhabitants, its chief springs being used to supply the
Jerusalem aqueduct, which would, of course, run great risk of
both depletion and contamination were a camp of some 4,000
souls established near its head.
The refugees to be concentrated at Junction do not include
the Armenians. These it is proposed to accommodate with their
fellows at Port Said, where the men—a very strong sturdy lot
on the whole—will find inducements to join the Legion d’Orient
in Cyprus. There will also be, doubtless, a small proportion,
consisting of the well-to-do class, and mainly Moslems, who will elect
to fend for themselves from the outset, living either on their own
resources or on those of their friends or relatives in the Occupied
Territory. To some of the leading chiefs and notables we have
given, or shall give, a money gift or allowance sufficient to
dispense them from having to herd with the rest. But the
O.E.T. Administration, which has undertaken the organisation
and care of the camp at Junction, is preparing to receive up to a
maximum of 5,000 souls, the majority (over fifty per cent) of
whom will, of course, be children. The camp, which is on
ground good in summer, though it would be soft in winter, will
have no wire except round the isolation hospital ; and all that is
possible will be done for sanitation and cleanliness, washhouses
and apparatus being provided. The direction will be in the
hands of a Commandant, who will have under him “ Q ’’ Officers,
Interpreters, etc. The medical staff will be under a British M.O.
and will include a Syrian M.O. (from Salt itself), a Staff nurse
and Matron, probationer nurses, sanitary supervisors, dispenser,
and men to look after the disinfectors. A company of Egyptian
infantry will act as guards. A free camp for a large body of
untutored and undisciplined people of both sexes is a bold