Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 48

48 that every steamer bound for Tel Aviv had first to call at the Port of Jaffa, the registration at Haifa of lighters intended for work at Tel Aviv, the lack of provision of customs sheds and bonded warehouses, etc. At the instance of the Jewish Agency the category of goods licensed for unloading at Tel Aviv was gradually enlarged. In April 1937, the Executive took up with the Government the question of authorising the landing of passengers at Tel Aviv. At first the Government seemed inclined to consider the proposal sympathetically and held out a prospect of permission being given for the landing of tourists in the first instance. In the course of the protracted negotiations that ensued, the attitude of the Government underwent a change and eventually the Jewish Agency was informed that a decision on the matter would have to be held over until the recommendations of the Royal Commission were received. 64. It will be seen from the letter to the High Commissioner of May 14th (Appendix III) that at the beginning of the Arab strike the Jewish Agency urged the Government to assert its authority by reopening the Jaffa port. The conciliatory methods which the Government attempted to use for the achievement of this object failed, and since the opening of the port of Tel Aviv the Jewish Agency was no longer concerned in this matter. When the Arab strike was about to be terminated, the Government raised the question of the Jews going back to the port of Jaffa. It offered to ensure a certain share of employment in that port to Jewish labour and proposed the construction of a road along the shore from Tel Aviv to Jaffa port so as to obviate the necessity for Jewish merchants and workers to pass through the city of Jaffa on their way to the port. The Jewish Agency's attitude to these proposals, endorsed by the Tel Aviv Marine Trust, was that after the repeated Jewish massacres in Jaffa there could be no question of the Jews going back to the present harbour in that city; that the proposal of a joint harbour for Tel Aviv and Jaffa could only be considered it if came from the Arabs of Jaffa; and that, meanwhile, the development of the port of Tel Aviv must on no account be impeded.