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Coincident with these building operations an extensive plot, adjoining the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf has, after protracted and difficult negotiations, been purchased for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of extending and safeguarding, on the one hand, the area of the international Baha'i endowments on Mt. Carmel, and of providing, on the other, the much needed space for the extension and completion of the far-flung arc around which the edifices of the World Baha'i Administrative Order are to be built. The recently acquired area surrounding the holiest Shrine in the Baha'i World and its appointed Qiblih in the plain of `Akka has been further extended through the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel of a dilapidated house, situated south of the Mansion and blessed by the presence of `Abdu'l-Baha and in which He was wont to receive His friends, amongst them the first party of western Baha'i pilgrims to arrive in the Holy Land after the passing of Baha'u'llah. To these latest acquisitions must be added the purchase of another plot situated in the neighborhood of the Bab's Sepulcher and adjoining the area surrounding the future seat of the World Baha'i Administrative Order, raising thereby the total area of the international Baha'i endowments in the Holy Land to over four hundred thousand square meters. Furthermore, the necessary formalities have been completed in connection with the purchase of the site of the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar on Mt. Carmel, while the transfer of the title deeds of recently acquired plots to the name of the Israel branches of the United States, the British, the Persian, the Canadian and Australian Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies is being expeditiously carried out.
(95:1)
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