From Our Near East Correspondent At last curfew is done with! Since April 19, Jerusalem has been under curfew. Times are becoming normal once again. 'Buses pass without armed escorts: the ban on telephoning abroad is removed: censorship on papers from neighbouring countries is no more: and Arab shops have been officially opened for the past fortnight. Jerusalem has nothing to talk about except the prospect of a good tourist season, and the Royal Commission which is due to arrive on November 11.
If the strike has finished, the boycott has begun. The Arabs hope to reduce the Jews to misery by a complete boycott, which is in full swing at present, and will probably hold for a long time.
A new trade agreement for Palestine and Egypt has been signed which will remove many little differences, on the question of tariff, which have been troubling both countries for many years. The agreement is for one year.
Syrian Difficulties
France, having relieved herself Of Syria by the new Treaty, is now-opening the question of the Lebanon. In spite of the geographical, political and psychological differences between the two countries the Syrian Treaty is to be taken as a basis for the discussion. Opposition to the Treaty is daily growing in Syria.
The new Archbishop of Beirut, second in rank only to the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church, was consecrated on October 25 at Damascus. The new Archbishop, Magister Eliya Saleeby, has the distinction of having been elected unanimously by both the lay electoral college and the Holy Synod. It is another step forward in the difficult position of Greek and Arab in the Greek Orthodox churdi of the Near East.