Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 65

(3) On the basis of the foregoing submissions the Executive of the Jewish Agency is requested to address the following urgent representations to the Government : (a) The present method of determining the extent of immigration should be fundamentally changed in accordance with the resolutions of the 18th Congress. As long as this method continues the fixing of the number of labour certificates is to take place in accordance with the requirements of all branches of Jewish economy, which is developing by means of Jewish capital and Jewish enterprise and labour, and in accordance with the justified demands of the Jews for a share in the works of the Government and the Municipalities, without any limitation being made on account of non-economic grounds. (b) All obstacles and delays in dealing with immigrants' applications of all categories whose right of entry is not legally restricted shall be removed; the grant of certificates to these categories shall be carried •out not through the Central Immigration Department, which is overwhelmed with work, but through its branch offices in Palestine and the Consulates outside Palestine. The instruction of the Palestine Government with regard to the grant of immigration certificates to capitalists with £500 who are in a position to fit themselves into the various branches of economic activity in Palestine is to be carried out, whereas hitherto, as a matter of fact, the possibility of immigration has been granted only to a few individuals of this category. (c) The immigration possibilities for artisans with a capital of £250 should be increased; the restrictions which the Government has hitherto enforced in this respect by administrative methods should be abolished; and the amount of capital required from immigrants of this category should be reduced to £150. (d) All tourists who have already come into Palestine and been absorbed there should receive the general permission to remain permanently in the country. (e) All further difficulties put in the way of tourist traffic in Palestine should be abolished. The British Consulates in foreign countries should receive permission to recognise the guarantees furnished by the Palestine Offices for tourists. Tourists who make an application to the Palestine Government in accordance with the law for permission to settle in Palestine should receive such permission. (/) The Executive of the Jewish Agency is further requested constantly to renew its demand that the limitations applied in respect of the recipients of labour certificates between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five shall be removed. (4) Immigration from Russia. The fugitives from Soviet Russia living in the lands of Central Asia are exposed to formal difficulties which deprive them of the possibility of immigration to Palestine and confront them with danger of having to return to Russia. The immigration of Russian Zionists who are in prisons or in banishment is also subject to difficulties which make the immigration of these people impossible. The Executive is therefore requested to propose to the Government that those facilities that were in force a few years ago for the benefit of immigrants from Russia shall be revived. II.—Income Tax. The General Council approves the adverse attitude of the Executive of the Jewish Agency to the project for the introduction of Income Tax into Palestine and declares its agreement with the intention of the Executive to enter into negotiations with the Government if the latter undertakes a comprehensive investigation of the present taxation system for the purpose of alleviating the heavy and unjust burden of taxation that rests upon the Yishuv. 65 5