Palestine Jews Will Boycott Government Census Unless Objectivity Guaranteed

The Palestine Jewish community will not participate in the population census for this Autumn unless it is given adequate guarantees that the census will be absolutely objective, the executive committee of the Jewish National Council has announced.

It revealed, at the same time, that it has suggested to the Palestine Government that a date be fixed for elections of officials of the Jerusalem municipality. The city has been administered by a Government-appointed board since last year when the municipal council was dissolved following failure of Jews and Arabs to agree on who should be named mayor of the city.

Chief Justice William Fitzgerald, who was appointed several months ago to act as a one-man inquiry committee to look into the machinery of the Jerusalem municipality, is known to have made his report, but the Colonial Office and the Palestine Government have, so far not divulged its contents. It is learned, however, that he made the following recommendations:

Jerusalem should be divided into three independent boroughs – a Jewish, embracing the entire Jewish quarter in which there are about 90,000 inhabitants; an Arab, comprising the Arab quarter, which has about 30,000 residents; and an “international,” taking in the Old City, in which there are approximately 30,000 Moslems and Christians, and 2,500 Jews.

Each borough would be headed by a person of the respective dominant nationality, with the “international” area administered by a Christian Englishman, assisted by representatives of Moslem and Jewish religious institutions. The three boroughs would be made a general municipal administration, with a budget to cover matters concerning the entire city, which would be headed in yearly rotation by an Arab, a Jew and a Briton.