Waco News-Tribune · Waco, Texas · 14 July 1927

CP-1927-001

Nablus, Famous In Hebrew Annals, Nearly Wiped Out

Scarcely a House in Palestinian City That Had Stood for Over 2000 Years, Left Intact · Dead Lie Unburied, Injured Unattended · Wailings of Despair by Stricken Population Resound Throughout Desolated Community

Gershon Agronsky, Universal Service Staff Correspondent

Transcribed from the clipping

“NABLUS (Shechem), Palestine, July 13. — In this, one of the most ancient cities in Palestine, horror stalks. With more than 70 bodies recovered from the ruins of Monday’s earthquake, and with many dying, survivors are beseeching the rescue parties to extricate their relatives from the debris. The sight is more tragic than a shell-swept battlefield. Knots of people linger about the ruins of their houses, looking to the police for help. Thirty doctors are endeavoring to cope with the town’s greatest disaster. Constables, rushed from all the nearby cities, are almost unable to restore order… Walls of anguish rend the air. Amid the cries of the injured, and the wailing of the survivors whose relatives are missing, one hears the poignant shout: ‘Our city is destroyed!’ Stout-hearted sheiks wring their hands and cry: ‘We are lost!’ And all is answered by the chorus of the distracted Arab women, whose poise generally is so perfect. Starvation threatens the town. Relief rations from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are inadequate. The grand old city, with its famous markets, is a heap of debris piled with furniture and topped with bleeding human limbs… In many instances the earthquake did not spare even the well-built houses. Two cigarette factories, a mosque, two schoolhouses, the courthouse, and many heavy stone balustrades, balconies and walls are badly damaged and ready to crumple at the slightest quiver. At every turn, one sees ‘No thoroughfare’ signs. Persons with means are fleeing from the town. It is believed that there is little hope of rebuilding the place, for barely one house is intact, and nearly 200 ruins have been counted. Only one Christian, one Samaritan and one Jew are among the casualties. Part of Nablus is inhabited by a now nearly extinct race of Samaritans, the remaining handful of a once powerful race which, four centuries before Jesus Christ, built a temple on Mount Gerizam, which was destroyed.”

Context added by this archive

The archive had nothing at all from 1927 before this. The headline calls Nablus a Palestinian city and introduces it by its place in Hebrew annals, in that order. Seventy dead, and the paper counts the casualties by naming the three who were not Muslim. Gershon Agronsky later founded the Palestine Post and became mayor of Jerusalem.

Cite this item

"Nablus, Famous In Hebrew Annals, Nearly Wiped Out," Waco News-Tribune, 14 July 1927. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1927-001. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1927-001

Elsewhere in the archive

• Glory Of Ancient Palestine May Be Restored By JewsThe News Journal · 13 March 1927 · the same year
• Bishop Dunn Denies Modernization of Palestine by Jews Reduces Sanctity of Holy LandBuffalo Jewish Review · 29 April 1927 · the same year
• World Zionist Org. Seeks Palestine Economic FactsWisconsin Jewish Chronicle · 20 May 1927 · the same year