The Government announced today alterations of the districting system of Palestine in what Jewish observers interpreted as a preliminary to restriction of land sales to Jews.
The changes in district boundaries, published in an extra edition of the official Palestine Gazette, were officially explained as being intended to separate the predominantly urban from the rural areas. The changes are:
(1) The section comprising Jenin, Tulkarem and the Nablus subdistrict is separated from the Haifa district and made into a new Samaria District with headquarters in Nablus and J.H.H. Polock, the present Assistant District Commissioner, as District Commissioner.
(2) The section comprising Beersheba and Gaza subdistrict is cut off from the present Southern District and made into a new Gaza District with headquarters in Gaza and Major C.E.D. Buxton, formerly of Kenya, as District Commissioner. The rest of the Southern District, including Tel Aviv, is renamed the Lydda District.
Jewish circles pointed out that the new Nablus District covers the predominantly Jewish Hefer Valley, North Sharon Plain and Naharia and that not one of the six district offices is located in Jewish towns.
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