Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 467

the advanced pupils of the Government trade school, the Executive urged that the students of the Trade School attached to the Jewish Technical Institute be given similar facilities. 3. A further item of the loan schedule which was the subject of discussions between the Jewish Agency and the Government, was the amount of £250,000 allocated for the resettlement of landless Arabs. The representative of the Jewish Agency suggested that this amount might be found excessive in view of the relatively small number of Arabs entered on the register of those entitled to resettlement and of the even smaller number of those actually prepared to take advantage of that opportunity. The plea was advanced that any balance remaining unspent should be devoted to development purposes which should include assistance to Jewish settlement work. 4. The negotiations with the Government on the subject of grants-in-aid to the Jewish education and health services fell essentially within the competence of the Vaad Leumi, but were conducted throughout with the active participation of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency. In each of the two years under review the claims of the Jewish authorities for increased subventions from the revenue were discussed in a series of conferences, first with the respective heads of the Departments concerned, then with the Treasurer and the Chief Secretary, and finally in direct representations to the High Commissioner. With regard to Education, repeated attempts were made to obtain a revision of the formula on which the annual grant to the Jewish schools is assessed. It will be remembered that originally the grant was based on the proportion of the Jewish population of Palestine to the total population. In the negotiations conducted by Dr. Arlosoroff with the Treasurer of the Palestine Government in 1932, the Government representative insisted on this basis being changed to the proportion of the Jewish school age population to the total school age population. At the same time, a prospect was held out of an important concession to the Jewish school system in the form of a special per capita grant in respect of the number of children educated in Jewish schools in excess of that covered by the proportionate annual grant. The representative of the Jewish Agency had agreed to the proposed change of the basic formula only on the understanding that the additional per capita allowance would be forthcoming. Eventually, however, the per capita grant had not been approved while the change of the formula from total to school-age population had been given effect. This change worked to the detriment of Jewish interests, since the Jewish population, containing a large immigrant element, had proportionately a smaller number of children of school age than the Arab population. In the negotiations regarding the grant for the year 1934-35, and again in those for the year 1935-36, the Jewish representatives re-opened the question of the formula a'nd insisted on the inclusion of a compensatory per capita grant, or alternatively on the reversion to the 467