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 105

105 present a beginning has at last been made with the introduction, of Jewish labour into porterage work at the Haifa harbour, but the share thus given to Jewish labour lags far behind the proportion which the Jewish Agency considers to be its due. On the railways the proportion of Jews is about 8.5% and a policy is here advocated of making use of every available opportunity to increase the Jewish personnel up to the desired proportion. So far this policy has been urged in vain. 7. The grievance as to the inadequacy of Jewish representation applies also to the Civil Service in general, in which Jews form little more than 20^. Particular attention must be drawn to the sections of service in which Jews are especially scarce. It may be mentioned, by way of example, that the force of customs guards at Haifa is entirely non-Jewish, that the personnel of the mechanical workshops of the Public Works Department contains only a very «f ew Jews, that the Health Department employ a very small number of Jewish doctors and officials, that the number of Jewish judges and court officials is inadequate, and that, with the single exception of Nathania (where an office was first set up during the disturbances) there are no Jewish District Offices in the areas of Jewish settlement. 8. Insufficient care is taken by the Administration to ensure that Jewish employees should be freed from work on their Sabbath. In some departments preference is given, in the engagement of staff, to Jewish candidates who declare readiness to work on Saturday. It is submitted that the rule should be such as to enable Jews employed in Government services to observe their traditional day of rest. IX. HEBREW LANGUAGE 1. The status of Hebrew as an official language is not uniformly recognised in practice by Government departments. Some departments have expressly stated that they will not communicate with the public in Hebrew. Others accept communications addressed to them in Hebrew but do not reply in that language. Annual Reports of many departments are not made available in Hebrew. 2. Furthermore, evident discrimination against Hebrew as compared with Arabic is practised in several branches of the public service. The Department of Customs, for instance, replies to Arabs in Arabic, to Jews, however, in English. In some Courts the record of the proceedings is kept in Arabic, even though both parties are Jews and no Arab judge is sitting. Telegrams in Hebrew can only be sent in certain parts of the country. In the transliteration system of the Government, Jewish historical and biblical names are rendered in the Arabic form. 3. It is submitted that there should be a consistent and