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October 11, 2004

Gary D. Keenan
Vancouver, B.C.

Letters Editor,
The Globe and Mail

Dear editor

Barbara Hodgson's excellent letter (More than a
Memory, Oct. 8) regarding renowned British Arabist
Gertrude Bell brings to mind the fact that the Middle
East may well have been spared several decades of
violence, death, and destruction if British Prime
Minister Lloyd George had heeded her wise words
regarding the 1917 Balfour Declaration.  

While serving with British intelligence in Cairo, Ms.
Bell advised the cabinet that "an independent Jewish
Palestine" was impractical because "[Palestine]...is
not Jewish;" the native population would not "accept
Jewish authority.... Jerusalem, is equally sacred to
three faiths, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, and should
never, if it can be avoided, be put under the
exclusive control of any one...." 

Yours sincerely,

Gary D. Keenan
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