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Acquisition of Vitally-Needed Property- Announce to Baha'i communities, East and West, on the joyous occasion of the hundred and thirty-fifth Anniversary of Baha'u'llah's Birthday, the successful termination of the protracted negotiations, initiated two years ago and culminating in the signature to the contract providing the eventual, formal transfer by the Development Authority of the State of Israel to the Palestine Branch of the American National Spiritual Assembly of the extensive, long-desired, vitally-needed property surrounding and safeguarding for posterity the Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith, as well as the adjoining Mansion. (45:2) The acquired area, raising Baha'i holdings on the holy plain of `Akka from four thousand to one hundred and fifty-five thousand square meters, was exchanged against property donated by children of Zikrull h, grandchildren of Mirza Muhammad Quli, Baha'u'llah's faithful half-brother and companion in exile. (45:3) This spontaneous offer contrasts with the shameful action of the family in the sale to non-Baha'is of the property in the neighborhood of the Jordan Valley purchased through the instrumentality of `Abdu'l-Baha during Baha'u'llah's lifetime, pursuant to His instructions and alluded to in His writings. (45:4) The forty acre property acquired in this single transaction almost equals the entire Baha'i international endowments purchased in the course of sixty years in the vicinity of the Bab's Sepulcher on the slope of Mount Carmel. (45:5) The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners, traditional supporters of the old Covenant-breakers and descendants of the notorious enemy of `Abdu'l-Baha who placed his residence at the disposal of the Committee of Investigation.
(45:6)
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