Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 452

Iti and around the harbour........... On road construction in the town... ..... On Arab buildings .............. On Jewish buildings.............. On Arab porterage and transport (includini I. 1,854 265 876 85 II. 1,821 238 694 88 >g motor lorries) ......... On Jewish porterage and transport 358 312 314 305 Total employed Looking for work. 3,750 392 3,460 514 4,142 3,974 The Hauranis and Trans jordanians wording in and around the Haifa Harbour were counted on three consecutive days and their numbers found to be : A special investigation was carried out by the Political Department into the economic conditions of the Hauran with a view to ascertaining the background of the grave problem with which Palestine in general and Jewish economic enterprise in particular have been faced. An enquiry was further initiated in Palestine itself in regard to the nature and extent of the illicit settlement of Arabs from neighbouring countries. The results of these enquiries should form the basis of further representations to the Government on the subject. 1. Apart from the problem created by the infiltration of cheap labour from the neighbouring countries, the position of Jewish labour was endangered by the very considerable increase, witnessed in the period under review, of Palestinian Arab labour employed by Jews. The issue was closely connected with that of immigration and the labour shortage, but in the discussions which took place with the Government the basic aspect of the principle of Jewish labour figured prominently and was the subject of a fundamental exchange of views. Here again the substance of the argument may best be presented by a quotation from the Jewish Agency's Schedule Memorandum of October, 1934 : One of the dangers inherent in the present situation from the Jewish point of view is the large increase of Arab labour in Jewish areas and of non-Palestinian Arab labour in the country as a whole, The Jewish Agency has unequivocally maintained, as a fundamental principle by which the Jewish National Home stands or falls, the , necessity of ensuring that such opportunities of employment as are being directly created by Jewish enterprise should be utilised to the greatest possible extent for the absorption of immigrant Jews. This Executive has repeatedly stressed in its representations to Government what has been indisputably established by years of experience, that February 25, 1935 26. 1935 27, 1935 1,654 1,854 1,892 II.—Jewish Labour. 452