Dear Baha'i friends,
Enclosed please find our letter of 16 November 1969
addressed to the Baha'is of the World. Please share this letter with all
believers in your jurisdiction as soon as possible.
After several years of protracted negotiations with agencies
of the Israel Government both in Jerusalem and Haifa, an important property
adjacent to Bahji and embracing the Master's teahouse has been acquired. On 17
November we cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States as
follows:
WITH GRATEFUL HEARTS ANNOUNCE SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION FORMAL
NEGOTIATIONS INITIATED NEARLY TWO DECADES AGO BY BELOVED GUARDIAN WITH
AUTHORITIES STATE ISRAEL RESULTING OWNERSHIP VITALLY NEEDED PROPERTY
SURROUNDING 'ABDU'L-BAHA'S TEAHOUSE IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOURHOOD MOST HOLY TOMB
FOUNDER FAITH. ACQUISITION MUCH DESIRED LAND EXTENDING GARDENS BAHJI
FACILITATED THROUGH EXCHANGE PROPERTY DEDICATED SOME THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO TO
HOLY TOMB BAHA'U'LLAH BY DEVOTED SERVANT CAUSE HAJI 'ALI YAZDI.
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
The successful conclusion of these negotiations initiated
during the life-time of the beloved Guardian was made possible through the
acceptance by the Government, as even exchange, of an endowment property given
to the Faith in 1933 by the late Haji 'Ali Yazdi. The significance of the specific piece of
land donated by this venerable soul becomes apparent when reading the following
quotation from the IN MEMORIAM article about him in The Baha'i World, Volume 9
[624-25]:
He will forever be remembered, amongst other things, as the
establisher of Baha'i endowments in the vicinity of 'Akka through his gift of a
tract of land dedicated to Baha'u'llah's Holy Tomb in Bahji. ...
It is a glowing tribute to the memory of this devoted
servant of the Blessed Beauty that his gift should play such an important part
in securing this valuable additional safeguard for the Most Holy Tomb.
Please also convey the news of this victory to the friends.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
The Universal House of Justice
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’)