JEW AND ARAB

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 114, 10 November 1934, Page 6

JEW AND ARAB

ISSUE IN PALESTINE

POLICr OF GOVERNMENT.

CREATING GOOD WILL

There is again tension between Aiabs and Jews in Palestine. Aiabs complain that thousands of Jews are being smuggled into the country, and have organised their young men to watch the coast and the land frontiers and interfere with suspects; the Jews mako a counter-charge that thousands of Arabs from Syria and Transjordan cross into Palestine without control, and some of their' young men have organised to cheek the inilow (says a writer in. tho "Manchester Guardian")-The-Government is taking mea'suics to check undesired voluntary forces' and to guarti the frontiers more strictly. f The extraordinary Jewish immigration last year brought-an increaso of, more than 20 per cent, in the Jewish | population, and this year is likely to do | tho samo. Nevertheless, tho Census of | 1931 gives the basic figures of the situation. In 1931 tho total population was 1,035,000, of whom the Moslems numbered 760,000, tho Jews 175,000, and the Christians 91,000,. Three-fourfhs of tho Mofclem populationwas rural, and thiee-fourths of the Jew-1 ish population was urban. (The Jews were specially concentrated in three towns; in Jerusalem, where they had a considerable majority in the-popu-lation of 90,000; in Tel Aviv, which, having' been at the date of the Occupation a garden suburb of Jaffa, had grown into a town larger than Jaffa, with ,over 50,000 inhabitants; and in Haifa', where /they numbered one-third of tho total population of 50,000. - As regards occupations, agriculture supported 64 per cent, of the Moslem population ■ and 15 per cent, of the Jews, while the proportion -of Moslems supported by'industry -ivas under '10 per cent. and. of the Jews was about 39 per cent. - , JEWS ON THE LAND. . Nevertheless, tho figures of the two enumerations mado. by the Government in 1022 and 1931 indicato a steady increase in the ratio of the Jewish rural inhabitants. While In tho earlier year , they numbered only 15,000, or 18 per cent. \>f tho total Jewish population, m | 1931 they had' risen to 46,500, or_;_27 per 'cent. Thcrp is mo -geographical i segregation of Jews and Arabs in the i country,,but the Jewish settlements are . most numerous, and are expanding, not-1 ably in, three of the'more fertile areas: j the Plain of Sharon, which strotchos from Gaza along the coast to Acre; the Plain of Esdiaelon, running from the Bay of Haifa to tho Jordan valley, which divides Galilee .from Samaria; and the Jordan Valley and the lower hills of Galilee. v The Jews own not moro than one-fifth, of tho land, and the rest remains to the' Arabs. There has been an extraordinaryincrease of the area of citrus plantation in tho Plain of Sharon. Each year about 2500 acres of oranges and grapefruit'are planted; and the exporter the fruit has risen in each of recent years by about 1.000,000 boxes, • and will continue to rise at that rate as tho newly-.planted areas come to; tull bearing. The Jews today product about half the total crop; and their farmers and smallholders are engaged largely *n 1 other forms of intensive cultivation and in (lairy •farming, , Thq cultivation of , vines which before'the war was ™!e-, principal activity; and gram farming are steadily reduced. - The Arabs, on, the other hand, for tho most part pur-, sue tho simpler foims of agriculture and produce mainly'for their own use. ~ ~ '' INDUSTRY. Turning to industry, thVJew's ajo predominant,both in numbers and in the importance of their enterprises. The development has been starthngly rapid. ThoUowish organisations have conduct-, ed a' census' of industries and handi-, crafts on .Ithree, occasions, m ,1921, in ; 19,30, aria last year. The comparative, 'figures are: — . . - ~ ! 'i,.. "1921. • 1930. 1033. . Sumt>6r of-e&ab-'' -„ 7J 3 38G 'isrfflijii'■«■•«* »>» l°Ct inT^OJWJOO 2,235,000 -5,260,00? , Annual otltputjn- ' _''2,510,000' 5,329,000 1 The prda'uetiorf of building materials, | stone, and cement',,takes the flm-placo; i then come factories for food products,, 'arid'after 'thnt metalwork,■ woodwork, i textiles, '"clothing, leather-work, chcmieal* and.printing. Tel Aviv remains , far the.largest industrial centre; near-1 'lv half'of'-the total number of Jewish | factories , have been set Up in Sat Jewish town. .The bigge* indus-1 tries,' however, are »t Haifa, ana a number 'of smaller 'establishments, numbering now nearly 1000 are in Jerusalem. Mhe trade which employs the greatest, number 'of persons today is b'uildingr and that must continue* while the'immigration flows with its present rapid stream. Arabs and Jews are engaged together in a number of imiustrieVpartieiilarly in tawMing-ana cigarotte-niaking. '. The special Arab manufacture 6f soap which at one time accounted for thc-largest non-agricul-tural .export ,frpm Palestine has suffered" a'decline in recent years owing to-tho dosing of the market in Egypt. Jows and -Arabs are working together in tho industrial enterprise Which may fundamentally change tho economic condition of Palestine— namely, the extraction of minerals from tho Dead Sea —which today gives employment to some 500 persona. They worked toecther also in tho building of tho hydroelectric station on the Jordan, a Jewish enterprise which gupplics the power and light for almost the whole of the country. PUBLIC WOEKS. The largest employer of labour, how-' ever- in tho country is the Government of Palestine, and in all tho Pub/ ie woijks, whether tho railways or the ] making of roads, or public buildings or the construction of tho harbour of Haifa, while- the Jews have a place, tho great majority of tho workers arej The'experience of tlio building of the I Haifa Harbour was a good omen for tho co-operation of Arab a™t,, jGW_-|, nl industry. As a condition of the i.rt-, tiah Government's guarantee for tho loan out of which the funds for the construction wcro obtained, it was : Bthmlated-that there should be fair, wages and fair conditions of labour for all persons employed; and it was found possible to fix a scale which met the different standards of Arab and JewiVThe Palestine Lpan Act,'which was passed in Parliament in tho last session to provide for a similar guaiantee for the new loan of £2,000,000, Stipulates likewise for fair conditions of labour and fair wages. The greater part of tho loan is to be used for water supplies, drainage works, and public buildings, and in this development there is again a prospect of the employment