40 numerary police to whom specific functions were assigned by the. Government in case of emergency, 51. It was highly gratifying that when faced with this grave emergency the Jewish community of Palestine had been able to supply the requis…

41 selection. By arrangement with the authorities the Jewish Agency continued to provide teachers in the three official languages for the Jewish recruits undergoing training in the Police School. The number of Jewish policemen rose in the p…

42 fulness was therefore needed to ensure its maintenance. The reasons which actuated Jewish conduct during this trying period were set forth by a spokesman of the Executive at the meeting of the Palestinian members of the Zionist Actions C…

43 mediately attained. Thrown on their own resources, the Jews mobilised their unused reserves of economic opportunity in terms of labour, provision of services and organization of supplies. The development of the Tel Aviv roadstead, the in…

44 The letter proceeded to set forth the grievance of the Jewish Agency on this score in the following terms : "The Jewish Agency cannot regard this position as other than humiliating to the Jewish community and prejudicial to the economic …

45 works at Haifa, but not a single Jew was employed on sea work at Jaffa. Twice during the period of these negotiations, in October 1935 and in February 1936, the Jaffa port was abruptly ciosed by Arab nationalist strikes. The second of th…

46 country with its large Jewish population, of a direct access to the sea. The prospect of bringing the Jewish population down to its knees through such a "blockade" was as strong an incentive to the organisers of the Jaffa port strike as …

47 through a specially appointed representative, to unite the various interests concerned in one joint body so that there might be an effective instrument for carrying the project into effect once the necessary authority had been obtained f…

48 that every steamer bound for Tel Aviv had first to call at the Port of Jaffa, the registration at Haifa of lighters intended for work at Tel Aviv, the lack of provision of customs sheds and bonded warehouses, etc. At the instance of the …

49 ADMINISTRATIVE REARRANGEMENTS 65. One of the very first requests put forward to the Government after the Jaffa outbreak — in a letter addressed by the President of the Jewish Agency to the High Commissioner on the 21st April, 1936 — was …

50 before the publication of the Report of the Royal Commission. 67. One of the lessons taught by past disturbances and driven home with renewed force by the experience at Jaffa in April 1936 was the utterly precarious security position of …

51 with which it had successfully experimented in the South : namely of entrusting Jewish District Officers with the care of zones of Jewish agricultural settlement. At that time, with the exception of the District Officer at Nathania who w…

52 possible to rush re-inforcements of police or military to the rescue of attacked settlements, or even to maintain a regular system of day and night patrols. Secondly, the breakdown of communications which occurs every winter in certain r…

53 To these representations there was a prompt response. The first three of the four items enumerated were approved by the Government and work on their construction was soon taken in hand. A total of 37.5 kilometres of road in three importa…

54 was also made to come to a definite agreement with Government in regard to the fixation of the share of Jewish labour in works carried out by the Public Works Department and the methods of ensuring that this share should actually accrue …

55 labour into the porterage works controlled by the Government at the port of Haifa. In this, as in kindred matters, the Political Department worked in close cooperation with the institutions of the General Federation of Jewish Labour. Aft…

58 elusion that Government is prepared to avail itself of their services only when it has no other choice left?" Lengthy negotiations followed with the several Government authorities concerned : the Port Manager, the Director of Customs, th…

57 this difficulty had been overcome and Arab porters, realising that the railway system was functioning, returned to work, the Jews were gradually dismissed. The Political Department continued pressing for the enrolment of additional Jewis…

58 Palestine the months of September and from November to January. The Memorandum, after having been approved by the Executive in London and in Jerusalem was submitted to the Royal Commission immediately on its arrival in Jerusalem on the 1…

59 in camera on major political issues which occupied five additional sessions. He supplemented his evidence by a statement in writing addressed to the President of the Royal Commission. 79. In the course of the subsequent sessions, evidenc…