Colonial Secretary William Ormsby-Gore announced in the House of Commons today that 1,800 immigration certificates have been allotted to the Jewish Agency for Palestine for the six-months ending April, 1937. The certificates, earmarked for Jewish labor immigrants, will permit the entry of approximately 4,000 persons.
The Colonial Secretary said the Government had decided that temporary suspension of immigration during the Royal Commission’s investigation into the underlying causes of the Arab disorders, as demanded by Arabs, was unjustified. (The commission left for Palestine today.)
Immigration of Jews into the Holy Land was regarded as the chief causative factor in the disturbances, during which more than 300 lives were lost. Arabs had demanded complete cessation of immigration, ban on sale of Arab land to Jews and an Arab national government.
Zionist circles are expected to be bitterly disappointed over the new immigration schedule, since it represents a steep drop from the immigration rate which prevailed in the past few years. The last six-month schedule provided for 4,500 certificates. Last year, more than 60,000 Jews, including laborers and those in the capitalist category, entered the Holy Land.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
