Page:Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929 cmd 3530.djvu/9

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The Jewish agricultural settlements are an important feature of the country. These number 135 with a total population of approximately 35,000. The population of individual settlements ranges from nearly 6,000 (at Petach Tikvah) to, in some cases, as few as ten. The settlements are widely distributed but roughly they may be grouped as follows—19 lie in the maritime plain to the south of Jaffa and 22 to the north of Jaffa; 8 are near Jerusalem; 17 are situated in the Plain of Sharon, the name given to the coastal strip stretching from Haifa southwards nearly to Jaffa; 37 are in the Plain of Esdraelon, 21 in Lower Galilee, and 11 in Upper Galilee. The distribution and classi- fication of these settlements are shown by a map which we annex to this report.

When a census of Palestine was taken on the 23rd of October, 1922, the total population was 757,182 of whom 590,890 were Moslems, 83,794 were Jews, and 73,024 were Christians. The most recent demographic statistics which we have seen relate to the middle of 1928. At that time the population in round figures was estimated at 898,000 of whom 660,000 were Moslems, 150,000 were Jews, and 79,000 were Christians. A large majority of the Christians are of Arab origin.

History.

Palestine has played a part in history certainly not less im- portant than that played by any other country of the world. A narrative of that history would be a story of repeated conquests of the country and of a succession of civilizations. Standing as it does practically at the junction of two continents and athwart the trade routes of ages now long forgotten, at times barring the way between rival civilizations, Palestine has for 4,000 years at least been the prey of the strongest of its neighbours. Many campaigns have taken place and battles have been fought within its confines. From time to time independent governments have ruled in Jerusalem, but during by far the greater part of recorded history the country now known as Palestine has formed a mere adjunct of some neighbouring Empire.

The changes of control are too numerous and too complicated to be traced here. It must suffice to say that by the year 1516, when the country was by conquest absorbed into the dominion of the Turks, the effect of successive invasions was to leave in Palestine a people of whom the vast majority were of mixed blood caused by an intermingling of the indigenous races with those who, after each change of supremacy, had settled in the land. Though it is customary to apply the term ‘‘ Arab ’’ to the Moslem section and to a large part of the Christian section of the people of Palestine, it is doubtful whether the true Arab element in the population to-day includes much more than the