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In Jerusalem, there was a Directorate of Awqâf (Awqaf Müdiriyeti) for the late Ottoman period, namely after Tanzimat (promulgated in 1839). But the Ministry of Awqâf in Istanbul was established in 1826. This application implemented by the central authority was also followed by the local administrations. Then, for the British Mandate and Jordanian periods there were two divisions in Awqâf administration : one was the General Directorate of Awqâf and the other was the Jerusalem Awqâf Administration.

The Department of the Waqf in Jerusalem charged with handling the question of Waqf properties was founded in 1264 H/1845 CE.

In the British Mandatory period these official functions were taken on by a specially created body known as the Supreme Muslim Council. After 1948, the SMC was replaced by the Jordanian government with a body that became known as the Awqaf Administration.

The Diocese of Jerusalem was founded in 1841 under the joint auspices of Queen Victoria and King Frederick William IV of Prussia. The bishops were to be nominated alternately by the English and Prussian sovereigns, to be consecrated by Anglican bishops and to have spiritual jurisdiction over Anglican and Lutheran Christians in Palestine. In 1881, however, a failure to obtain episcopal orders for the Lutherans prepared the way for the withdrawal of Prussia, and the bishopric fell into abeyance for almost six years. It was finally reconstituted on a purely Anglican basis and on 25 March 1887 the Venerable Archdeacon Blyth was consecrated Bishop in Jerusalem with jurisdiction over Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, Cyprus, the region around the Red Sea, and, later, the Sudan and Iran. The Jerusalem Bishopric Fund, later the Jerusalem and East Mission Fund was set up by Bishop Blyth for the maintenance and development of the work of the diocese. In 1920 Egypt and the Sudan were separated from Jerusalem to form a new diocese with Llewellyn Gwynne as bishop. In 1939 the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission came fully under the control of J&EM. The diocese of Jerusalem became the seat of a province in July 1957 and at the same time a new diocese of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria was created. At the time of writing the province is composed of the following dioceses: Jerusalem; Cyprus and the Gulf; Egypt; Iran.

Fr. Etienne Doumeth was a Lebanese Maronite priest (from Maad) who joined the brothers of Sion (St. Peter's Monastery in Jerusalem) where he taught Arabic. After a few years spent in Saint-Pierre, he was claimed by the Bible School, just opened (1890) and where a teacher of Arabic was sought. Fr. Doumeth then became a Dominican, made profession and lived in the convent of Saint-Etienne during the First World War, when the French fathers and brothers had to leave the country. He died in Saint-Etienne on October 5, 1929.

Jacques Tournay was born in Paris, in the 16th arrondissement, on March 28, 1912. He attended the Brothers' School of the Christian Schools of the Rue de Grenelle, then the Stanislas College and the Albert de Mun College in Nogent-sur-Marne. In 1926, after a serious pleurisy, he was forced to take refuge in the mountains: it was there that he met Dominicans, including Fr. Festugière.

He entered the novitiate in Amiens in 1930, where he received the name Raymond. It is at the Saulchoir de Cain, in Belgium, that he completed the philosophy and theology curriculum. He was ordained a priest on July 14, 1936. However, when he became Fr. Congar's secretary, he was approached by Fr. Chenu, who was under pressure from Fr. Lagrange to find a successor to the Orientalist Edouard Dhorme, to go and study at the École Biblique.

Tournay therefore began studying assyriology in 1938 in Leuven, learning Assyrian-Babylonian and Akkadian with Fr. Vincent Scheil, the first translator of the Hammurabi Code.

Tournay arrived in Palestine in September 1938, shortly after the death of Fr. Lagrange, in the middle of an intifada.
Reformed for health reasons, he was not mobilized in 1939 but took advantage of wartime to go to Rome for his biblical license. Just before Mussolini's entry into the war alongside the Germans, he was able to take refuge in Paris where he helped Fr. Vincent to continue as best he could the publication of the Bible Review under the name of Vivre et Penser.

He was then invited to teach Hebrew and exegesis at the Saulchoir d'Etiolles until the end of the war. In 1942, Fr. Chenu entrusted him with a translation of the Psalms made by Fr. Synave. This was the starting point of his interest in Hebrew poetry. He began his work with the help of a Jewish poet, Joseph Leibowitz, who was arrested shortly afterwards. From that moment on, Tournay sought to restore the psalms to their rhythm and accents.

Throughout the war, Tournay followed the courses of René Labat and Jean Nougayrol at the EPHE. He began studying the legends of Gilgamesh, which led to the publication of his Epic of Gilgamesh in 1994. He also became professor of Assyro-Babylonian at the Institut catholique de Paris.

After seeing some arrests of Jewish friends up close, he decided to join the Resistance and became a liaison officer for a group that broadcast clandestine programs from abroad. He also helps Jewish friends to hide from being caught many times.

In October 1945, Fr. Vincent and Fr. Tournay were finally able to return to Palestine. Tournay continues his research in Assyriology and travels to Mesopotamia, Syria and Turkey.

Since the creation of the State of Israel, Tournay has been committed to efforts towards peace. He was helped by his friend Léopold Sédar Senghor, a great lover of poetry like him. Subsequently, Tournay became involved in the defence of three villages near Latroun that had been destroyed by the Israeli army during the Six-Day War.
In 1964, Tournay became a tutor to Prince Hassan of Jordan, brother of King Hussein. He regularly stays in Amman and teaches him French, Hebrew and even Aramaic for several years. In 1967, after the loss of Jordanian sovereignty over Palestine, Tournay became the informal contact of Jordanian diplomacy for France and the Vatican. In 1997, he helped Prince Hassan write the French version of his book Christianity in the Arab World (1995), written to promote Christian-Muslim relations. The result of this work was the publication of the book Le Christianisme et l'Islam sont nés en Orient (Brepols, Paris, 1997), which opens with a preface by Fr. Tournay.

During his many years in Jerusalem, Fr. Tournay was involved in charitable works, especially through Caritas Jerusalem, of which he was the delegate. He also worked to help the poorest in a very concrete way, by redistributing the surpluses from various kitchens. He was also responsible for the creation of children's clinics in Bethlehem.

Fr. Tournay was a teacher at the École Biblique for 46 years (1946-1992). In addition to the Akkadian and Sumerian classes, which he interrupted when Marcel Sigrist arrived in 1975, he focused on wisdom literature and, above all, on the Psalms. He was in charge of translating the Psalms for the first Jerusalem Bible, and was assisted in this by Raymond Schwab, a poet of Jewish origin. The translation published in 1950, the result of a very careful study of the richness of Hebrew poetry, is recognized as one of the best ever done. He was then asked to provide a version adapted for the sung liturgy, which he did in 1954 with the help of the PP. Gélineau and Chifflot. However, he never abandoned the Prophets, on which he published until 1997. His latest work, Seeing and Hearing God with the Psalms, or the prophetic liturgy of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (Paris, Gabalda, 1988), synthesizes his research on the Psalms and those on the Prophets.

Tournay was naturally indicated to publish the great commentary on the Song of Songs on which André Robert had worked until his death. This one appeared in 1963, Fr. Tournay having added a long comparison with the extra-biblical parallels received from the different ancient worlds. After various evolutions, his interpretation of the Song was summarized in a new book, When God Speaks to Men the Language of Love. Studies on the Song of Songs (Paris, Gabalda, 1982).
Fr. Tournay was also very interested in the translation of the Pater's 6th request. He lectured and published articles on the subject, and tried to persuade various bishops to change the translation so that one could no longer have the impression that it was God who was the cause of temptation. He finally received the approval of the French Bishops' Conference in 1998.

In 1968, Tournay became the director of the Bible Review, and remained so for 25 years. In addition, he was Director of the School for three terms from 1972 to 1981.

In 1972, he was promoted to Master of Theology by the Master of the Order. That same year, he received the National Merit Medal, before being decorated with the Legion of Honour nine years later. In 1994, the University of Fribourg awarded him an honorary doctorate for 50 years of scientific activity and charitable efforts.

He died at the Bible School on November 25, 1999. The funeral mass was presided over by Bishop Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was created in 1863 at the instigation of Henry Dunant. The original goal was to coordinate national societies dedicated to the help of military medical services and to make the governments adopt and respect humanitarian rules during times of war. As a consequence, the first Geneva Convention was signed on 22 August 1864, compelling the armies to care for the wounded soldiers.
As the intervention of a neutral intermediary seemed needed, the ICRC's role of coordination of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies was extended to field operations.
Since the end of Wolrd War II, the ICRC acts for the civilians impacted by conflicts, for example in Israel and in Palestine. This commitment led to the establishment of the fourth Geneva Convention, in 1949, with dispositions regarding the protection of civilians.

Rumeli Inspectorship, formed in 1902, was charged with inspecting the provinces of Manastır, Salonika, Kosovo, Janina, Adrianople and Scutari as well as the sanjaks, towns, districts and villages of these provinces.

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To be completed.