Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 185

(2) Simultaneously with the release of the funds of the Company from its previous investments, it turned its attention to new acquisitions and to the opening up of new zones for settlement. In 1925 the Company began to. make purchases in the Negev, and in the course of time invested about £P. 6,000 there; but owing to the lack of interest of the public and of the Jewish public bodies, the Company ceased its activities in this district. In the period under review, however, the Company found support for this branch of its work in Mr. Moshe Smilansky, who formed groups of persons of means ready to invest money in these purchases. The Company, therefore, resumed and has continued its purchases in this region, especially on orders from these groups. The Company has already effected the transfer of some 14,000 dunams of land in this region, but, until the question of water here has been investigated and solved, these purchases are considered mainly as an experiment in regard to colonising possibilities. The effecting of purchases in this zone demands much work and time, for practically none of the areas in the Negev are yet registered in the Land Registry, and the basic conditions (triangulation, etc.) are lacking for the co-ordination of their survey with the general survey of the Government now in force in other parts of the country. This state of affairs greatly impedes and retards the Company's work of survey. In the Valley of Jezreel, the Company, during the period under Teview, completed the acquisition of an area of nearly 20,000 dunams, negotiations for which had begun in 1925 and the transfer held up until 1934. This area is situated west of the Valley at the foot of Mount Carmel, and brings the Jewish block of settlements in the Valley nearer the Samarian colonies. The Megiddo road which is linked up with the Haifa-Nazareth road, traverses this area, on which the Yokneam colony, destined to accommodate 500 families, is about to be created. The Company has undertaken to construct roads and to arrange for a water supply for this colony. It has already begun with the boring of wells, and up to now water has been found in some of these to the amount of about 100 m3/hour. The Keren Kayemeth and the Central Bureau for the Settlement of German Jews have purchased 3,500 dunams of this land for the settlement of German refugees; the remainder has been sold to private individuals, the majority of whom are prepared to settle there shortly. In the Jordan Valley the Company, during the period under review, completed the purchase, for the Keren Kayemeth, of Zemach in the vicinity of Dagania, and continued to buy for that institution various areas at Beth Shaan for the purpose of extending the national settlement in that district. It also effected the purchase, begun years ago, on the east bank of the Lake of Kinnereth, an area which has been sold for the private settlement of German refugees. 185