Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 186

The Huleh Valley. The most outstanding achievement of the Company in this period was the acquisition of the Huleh Concession, an achievement which was brought to a successful conclusion by the persevering efforts of the Company. The Concession Area occupies about 62,000 Turkish dimams, and after deduction of the area demanded by Government for the present Arab cultivators, about 46,000 Turkish dunams will remain, including the- Huleh Lake, which is about to be partly drained and will then be reduced to a maximum of 5,000 dunams. This area, so famous in the past, and so perilous at the present time, will serve for the settlement of thousands of Jewish families after the great work of sanitation has been carried out, and the proper regulation of its abundant water has been effected. The fertility of this spot for which it was famed in ancient times will once again flourish. The Company considered it a duty to carry out the acquisition of the Concession without delay, and not to postpone this for an indefinite time. It was therefore obliged to agree to the difficult demands of the Government and vendors alike in order not to lose the possession of this area which, in this country, is unrivalled for fertility and possesses hidden possibilities for prosperous colonisation. In its negotiations with the Government for the transfer of the Concession, the Company had the full support of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, both in Palestine and London, together with that of Dr. Weizmann. The following is a summary of the acquisitions of the Company in the last two years : dunams. In Judea and Samaria (especially in the Negev). about 10,000 In the Vallevs of Jezreel and Zebulun ... ... „ 22,500 In the Jordan Valley ............ „ 8,900 41,400: In the Huleh Valley ............ „ 45,600 In all............ „ 87,000 Apart from the above-mentioned agricultural areas the Company also acquired, in the period under review, nearly 700,000 sq. m. of urban land, the main part—about 628,400 sq. m.— in Haifa, the remainder in Jerusalem. The Haifa purchase includes about 300,000 sq. m. of the land of the French Carmelite Convent on Mt. Carmel, and nearly 200,000 sq. m. of the land known as " Carmeliah "; the remainder in various spots in the neighbourhood of Hadar Hacarmel and the Nazareth road. The Jerusalem purchases of the Company were made for the extension of Rehavia, which in the few years of its existence has developed into the most popular residential quarter of the city. The aforementioned acquisitions cost the Company—in round figures : 186