Document listing significant conclusions from the petitions

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I ^ The Value of the Petitions as an fc
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a.
The 1863 petitions received by the ^'^ <^"fgfafjfl^MlcaUy
the summasya tables prepared from them cannot of oo^ *gp»flgiPfM» 1^^
I^nr^eTll^of the real desires of the peoples of Wm
h^&fc     :      • W-ja 38 ,„._..-,....s .„„   +>>of   Tnavo,   rmfl.Tifi.ed     Ml
I'toxir vuiavof
e difficulties that have qualified their accn:
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i      1   The :r umber of the petitions from the different sections of Syria U lit jro-
%l       Optional to their respective populations, e.g., O.JB.TU. South, with tWJJSyi
,,-s Sauhich delegations were received is represented by only 260 petitions, *JU;
Iill; petitions wereleoeived f*>m O.E.S.A. Bast, in ^ich but eight cities **£^£y
2. The number of petitions from the different religious organizations is not       y
* proportional to the numerical strength of the religious faiths,   fhis is especially true of the verbal requests made by delegations.    In O.S.T.A* Soufcfc,
^e.g., on account of the number of sects of the Christian faith, 53 delegations
~:of Christians were received, and only 18 delegations of Moslems, whereas the
aMoslem population is fully three times as large as that of the Christian, This
disparity does not, however!hold for the total number of petitions, verbal
and written, as it was corrected in part by the large number of petit ions from
Mo si em villages presented to the Oonmission at Aleppo and other northeastern
points.
3.
A number of petitions  show clearly the influence of organised propaga&da. Tibia
is sometimes evidenced in the petitions themselves by numerous similarities of    1
phrasing, by many identical wordings, and by a few instances in Tshieh printed
forms, obviously intended as models for written documents, have been signed
aad given to the Commission.
In addition to  the internal evidence, there were also many external indications
of systematic efforts to influence the character of the petitions.    The same
Arab Agent was observed in four cities of Palestine, assisting in the preparation of petitions.   3lmilar activities on the part of the French eympathizers
were observed in Beirut.    It was also noteworthy that one-third of the petitions
favorable to the Zionist program came through the office of the Zionist Commission.
4. In addition to this general propaganda, v&ich was both natural and inevitable*
it is certain that a small number of petitions were fraudulently secured.    In
two cases the signatures were in the same handwriting.    Three instances of
"repeater" signatures were discovered^ In addition, the seals of new organizations, purporting to be Trade Unions of Beirut, were discovered to have bean    s
ordered by the same propaganda agent a few days before the arrival of the
Comaission.     All possible precautions were taken to insure authenticity of
petitions and signatures, but in view of the character of the Commission's survey
and the limited facilities for close checking, the genuineness of all cannot be
guaranteed.
Yet despite these four qualifications,  it is believed that the petitions as memar-
izea present a fairly accurate analysis of present political opinion in Syria.    The
grea* majority of irregularities offset one another.    The preponderance of Christian       I
petitions in Palestine is balanced by the flood of Moslem appeals at Aleppo.    »*     k   *
af^2t-,^ h B^tMz^s *» CNMl probably did not  influence the <Aar«W
gL^^nr^tS^tLd^Lm0^^ *» "g"* efforts of the  Inde^nden^
—JHPP-
IMMMiM*
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