OCR Text |
Show . IN HOLY LANO Marking New Era in History of the East Railway Line Established. TURKS DRIVEN OUT Ottomans Lose Last Port in Egyptian Territory Fertile Country Is Lost. WITH THE BRITISH FORCES IN PALESTINE. April 2. (Correspondence (Correspond-ence of the Associated Press.) The British troops that entered El Arish, tho gate of Palestine, two months ago, are firmly on the soil of tho Holy Land, marking a new era in the history his-tory of the east. From the sands of, the desert to the sown land progress was gradual. Early in January a bold cavalry dash drove the Turks out of their last port In Egyptian territory. El Arish was turned into a big railway depot and today, for the first time, a railway lino runs direct from Africa into Asia. El Arish is thirty miles from the frontiers of Syria. Thirty miles northwest north-west is Gaza, the third city of Palestine. Pales-tine. From El Arish to Gaza will be a populous countryside before long. The Bedouins, the successors of tho robber Philistines, have thus far held! up the development of a fertile coun-l try, but a strong ruling power will ' curb them, as did David and Solomon in their time. |