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 116

116 Haifa by a direct motor-road. It is my painful duty to point out that the absence of such direct communication in 1936 caused avoidable loss of life and waste of military resources. I would likewise urge that adequate provision be made for the construction of local or feeder roads, urgently required for security and development purposes, to the cost of which the Jewish settlements concerned would be prepared to make appropriate contributions. 10. The Jewish Agency notes with satisfaction the opening at Tel-Aviv and Nathania of District Offices, and the establishment of other Government offices in Tel-Aviv. It is hoped that all these offices will be established on a permanent basis, and that in addition a Court having the full jurisdiction of a District Court will soon be established in Tel-Aviv. There is urgent need for further steps in this direction in order to remove existing anomalies. I would call attention to the necessity of rectifying the municipal boundary between Jaffa and Tel-Aviv so as to include in Tel-Aviv those Jewish quarters which, though territorially, economically and ethnically an organic part of Tel-Aviv, are still comprised within the municipal area of Jaffa, and which suffered severely for that reason during the disturbances. I would, furthermore, invite attention to the anomalous situation which exists throughout the North of Palestine, where there is not a single Jewish District Officer to deal with the extensive areas of Jewish settlement in the coastal district of Samaria, in the Emek and in Upper Galilee, and would urge the immediate appointment of Jewish District Officers for these areas. 11. The disturbed state of Palestine has naturally left its mark on the economic life of the country. The Arab population in particular has suffered from the effects of the prolonged strike and the resulting economic dislocation. The economic position of the Jewish community has not remained unaffected, but the strike and the disorders have not succeeded in their avowed object of bringing about the economic paralysis of the Jewish National Home. On the contrary, they have called forth the reserves of strength in the Jewish economic structure, with the result that both Jewish agriculture and Jewish indusry are now more firmly established and better equipped than before. I would point out in this connection that not a single Jewish settlement was abandoned during the disturbances, while since the calling-off of the Arab strike, four new Jewish agricultural settlements have been established in the Beisan region and in the Jordan Valley. The country as a whole is showing, as after past trials, remarkable recuperative powers, as is evidenced by the rallying of revenue figures after a temporary drop, the improvement in the position of many industries, and the decreasing figures for Jewish unemployment, which does not now exceed the reasonable dimensions of an indispensable labour reserve. The investigations undertaken with a view to ascertaining labour requirements for the com-