UNCCP Refugee and Population Statistics Questionnaire – Israel’s response

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

GENERAL COMMITTEE

REPLY OF THE DELEGATION OF ISRAEL

TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE OF 19 MAY 1949

1. Number of refugees in the following categories:

(a) Separated families:

No figures have yet been received; the Israeli delegation has stated that arrangements were being made for taking a census of Arab refugees separated as a result of hostilities from members of their families now residing in Israeli-occupied territory.

(b) Salaried Arab workers (excluding owners) in the citrus groves:

Approximately 8,000 seasonal workers (this figure varies from 4,000 during the summer — May to September — to between 10,000 and 12,000 during the picking season).

It should be noted that in 1943-44, between 2,500 and 3,000 Arabs worked in Jewish-owned groves.

(c) Workers in the ports of Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jaffa:

Haifa: 2,000, of whom 80 to 90 per cent were Syrians or Egyptians engaged on a seasonal basis, the Palestinian Arabs being employed in the military camps (1946);

Tel Aviv: practically no Arab workers;

Jaffa: between 5,000 and 6,000.

2. At the and of 1947, the Arab population by former administrative districts which were included within the boundaries of Israel on 1 May 1949 was estimated at:

— Acre, 58,000; Safad, 41,000; Tiberias, 23,000;

— Nazareth, 34,000; Beisan, 14,500; Haifa, 108,000;

— Jenin, 7,500; Tulkarm, 32,000; Jaffa, 100,000;

— Ramle-Lydda, 80,000; Jerusalem, 50,000; Hebron, 17,000;

— Gaza, 60,000; Beersheba, 45,000,

3. Number of Arabs on 1 May 1949 in territories under Israeli jurisdiction: 160,000. These Arabs are located mainly in Jaffa, Haifa, Nazareth, Acre, Galilee, Jerusalem and Abu Ghosh.

4. Miscellaneous information:

(a) According to the delegation of Israel, the total number of refugees is estimated at 600,000, located as follows:

The total of 600,000 is composed of 520,000 refugees from Israeli territory and 80,000 from territory in Arab hands (Jenin, Tulkarm, the Old City of Jerusalem, Hebron, etc.) The Israeli delegation pointed out that the total of 600,000 refugees includes 100,000 nationals of Syria, the Lebanon, Egypt and other countries; with this deduction, the total becomes 500,000.

(b) Observations of the delegation of Israel on the total population of Israel in 1945: the total population was estimated by the Mandatory Power to be 1,810,000, of whom 554,000 were Jews; whereas according to Israeli estimates the Jews numbered 592,000. The number of Moslems was estimated by the British Administration to be 1,101,000, whereas Israel considered that they numbered 1,100,000. Further there were 135,000 Christians and 14,500 members of other religions.