Political action on what may become a matter of wide international interest, leading to many complications, was forecast in a statement issued several days ago by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Patriarch, in commenting upon a survey made under his auspices concerning the status of the Christian holy sites in Palestine, expresses the hope that the League of Nations will soon proceed to appoint its commission on the Holy Sites in Palestine as is provided in the Palestine Mandate.
The appointment of the Commission, long delayed, is now being pressed for because it will be the only authority which can examine the documents now in possession of the Palestine Catholics claiming to show that “many important Catholic Sites have been despoiled by the Protestants.” The status quo of the Christian Holy Places in Palestine has been infringed in sixteen cases in the course of the last ten years, since Palestine came under the British administration, the Patriarch’s statement declares.
The infringement of the status quo in all these cases is laid at the doors of the Eastern Christians and the Moslems. The Patriarch expressed his expectation that the League of Nations Holy Sites Commission will be called into action to “restore the Holy Sites to their rightful owner.”
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