UN Palestine Commission – Railways in Palestine – Report from the Advance Party

UNITED NATIONS PALESTINE COMMISSION

Report dated 10 March from the Advance Party

concerning railways in Palestine

The following report by Mr. Ghosh has received in Advance Party Air Pouch No.2 on 21 March.

UNITED NATIONS PALESTINE COMMISSION

ADVANCE PARTY

RAILWAYS IN PALESTINE

(Report by D. Gosh)

Discussion with the General Manager of Railways

1. The present administration is divesting itself of all responsibility regarding the management of railways and sections of railways which lie outside Palestine and are not owned by the Palestine Government. At the end of the Mandate, therefore, the administration in Palestine would be concerned only with the railways that lie within the country.

2. The extension from Acre to Ras was made for military purposes and is of small significance to the normal economy of Palestine. The future administration should, therefore, concentrate on maintaining the two main roots from Jaffa to Jerusalem and from Haifa to Jerusalem.

3. In the opinion of the General Manager of Railways, the first requisite for maintaining the railway administration in Palestine intact on the termination of the Mandate is the appointment of a manager in sufficiently good time to assure the railway staff of continuity of the organization. On enquiry, he informed me that he could think of some member of the existing higher staff of the Palestine railways who is both competent and willing to work as the Manager of the railways at the end of the Mandate. As to the instance of other departments, it may be advisable for the Commission to appoint shadow officers for the railways some time before the termination of the present administration.

4. The Railways have a preponderant proportion of Arab employees in the intermediate and lower ranks, whose present attitude is said to be that of non-cooperation with partition administration.