Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 460

March 1933. A new departure of considerable importance was the separation of Tel-Aviv from the mixed and purely Arab municipalities in the matter of the election regulations. While in the latter a system of territorial wards was introduced to supersede the preceding regime of communal representation, the system of proportional representation was retained in Tel-Aviv. The rate-paying qualification was fixed at 500 mils a year in Tel-Aviv and at 1,000 mils in other cities. In Tel-Aviv women retained the franchise which was denied elsewhere. Among other amendments in the main Bill, special importance attaches to the provision enabling the formation of so-called urban councils, which opened up the p'rospect of some measure of autonomy for Jewish quarters within the mixed municipalities, and a clause laying down that all municipal rates—and not merely the house rate as in the original draft— were to be taken into account for the purpose of conferring voting rights. On the other hand, a regrettable change was introduced in the Bill in regard to non-Palestinian ratepayers. While under the terms of the original Municipalities Bill of 1932 all ratepayers without distinction of nationality were to enjoy voting rights, the amended draft of 1933 revoked that extension of the franchise and limited it again, in all municipalities excepting Tel-Aviv, to ratepayers of Palestinian citizenship as under the earlier draft. 3. A Committee composed of officials presided over by the Attorney General was appointed by the Government for the final re-drafting of the Bill. The Committee had a series of meetings with the representatives of the Arab Mayors, on the one hand, and with the Jewish Agency, conjointly with the Vaad Leumi and the Municipality of Tel-Aviv, on the other. The Jewish representatives put forward amending proposals for the extension of the franchise by the reduction of the rate-paying qualification to 500 mils throughout the country and for the grant of voting rights to women at least in those wards where the majority of ratepayers were in favour of the measure. They urged the extension of the powers of municipal councils by the addition of a series of permissive clauses which would enable the more enterprising municipalities to expand their activities. They attempted to secure a wider and more effective measure of autonomy for the subordinate units of municipal self-government in the Jewish quarters of mixed cities. Special efforts were made by the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi to induce the Government to revert to its original intention of granting voting rights to non-Palestinians. Apart from the discussions which took place in the Committee direct representations were made on this subject to the High Commissioner. In addition to these main points, a large number of minor amendments were suggested, some of which were accepted by the Government. On the main features of the measure, however, including the denial of the franchise to non-Palestinians, no change could be effected. One of the proposals accepted by the Government was the extension of the franchise to sub-tenants, subject, of course, to the payment 460