Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 79

foreign nationality to influence their members in this direction, with a view to strengthening the political position of the Yishub. 6.—Observance of the Sabbath. The General Council directs the Executive to submit a proposal to the forthcoming Congress which may serve as a basis for our demand to the Government of Palestine to grant facilities for keeping the Sabbath to all Jews employed by the State. II. IMMIGRATION. 1.—The Position of Immigration. (a) The General Council notes with satisfaction the steady increase, for the last three years, in the number of immigrants of all categories. At the same time, the Council emphasizes that the extent of the immigration does not correspond to the economic needs of Palestine's Jewish population and to the absorptive capacity of the country, which is steadily expanding, thanks to the systematic activity of the Jews and the investment of Jewish capital. The Council places on record that the shortage of Jewish labour in agriculture, industry, and other spheres of activity, which has already lasted for two years, is sapping the foundations of Jewish economic life, threatening the stability of the Jewish National Home, and checking the development of the country. The shortage of labour is causing Jewish labourers to leave the country for the towns, and to abandon occupation in agriculture and on Government works for more remunerative employment; it hinders building and development works, and interferes with the development of Jewish agriculture and industry; it results in the influx of cheap labour from neighbouring countries, which tends to lower the standard of life of Palestinian workers; it deprives the Jewish population of important openings for work, and limits the country's capacity for absorbing Jewish immigration. The development of Jewish economic positions renders imperative a larger immigration of labourers through the increase of the Labour Schedules which the Government grants to the Jewish Agency. (b) The General Council hopes that the Government will already fulfill these demands when it fixes the next Schedule. The Council declares that the division of the Schedules into categories by the Government and the sub-division of the categories into yet smaller sections place difficulties in the way of the allocation of certificates to different countries and complicates the organisation of immigration. The Executive of the Jewish Agency must be free to distribute the immigration certificates amongst the various countries and categories in accordance with the needs of Palestine and the existing facilities for emigration from countries of the Diaspora. (c) The General Council draws the attention of the Jewish Agency Executive to the necessity for proposing to the Government the resumption of the grant of a Schedule for artisans with a capital of Î2S0, and—in pursuance of the article of the Immigration Ordinance which permits the immigration of persons with a capital of £500—for the granting of a Schedule for settlers who prove possession of that sum, the value of the land rented from the Keren Kayemeth or other colonisation agencies (such as the PICA), or of a plot acquired by purchase on land owned by such agencies, to be considered as part of the capital. (d) The General Council requests the Executive of the Jewish Agency to use every endeavour to achieve that authority to grant immigration certificates to capitalists of the Ai category be vested in the British Consulates at the principal emigration centres, thus doing away with the necessity for sending every application to Jerusalem. (e) The General Council is of the opinion that the order of the Immigration Department of the Palestine Government denying certificates to persons who entered Palestine on a tourist visa and remained in the country permanently, even where such tourists have found employment, is contrary 79