My military governor is
in contact with the acting custodians and the Latin and Greek
representatives. The governor has detailed an officer to supervise the
holy places. The Mosque of Omar and the area around it have been placed
under Moslem control, and a military cordon of Mohammedan officers and
soldiers has been established around the mosque. Orders have been issued
that no non-Moslem is to pass within the cordon without permission of
the military governor and the Moslem in charge."
A proclamation in Arabic, Hebrew, English, French, Italian Greek and
Russian was posted in the citadel, and on all the walls proclaiming
martial law and intimating that all the holy places would be maintained
and protected according to the customs and beliefs of those to whose
faith they were sacred. The proclamation read:
PROCLAMATION
To the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Blessed and the People Dwelling in
Its Vicinity.
The defeat inflicted upon the Turks by the troops under my command has
resulted in the occupation of your city by my forces. I, therefore,
proclaim it to be under martial law, under which form of administration
it will remain so long as military consideration makes necessary.
However, lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your experience at the
hands of the enemy who has retired, I hereby inform you that it is my
desire that every person should pursue his lawful business without fear
of interruption.
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