JEWS IN PALESTINE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 125, 28 May 1937, Page 10

JEWS IN PALESTINE

GERMAN REFUGEES COLONIES ESTABLISHED • Nazareth and Bethlehem are the only cities in Palestine .which have no Jewish population, according to Dr. W. D. Bathgate, medical superintendent at the Edinburgh Medical Mission Hospital in Nazareth, who arrived from ' Sydney today by, the Maunganui on a holiday visit to the Dominion. Dr. Bathgate, who was born in Dunedin, has been in charge of the hospital in Nazareth, which has 70 beds, for the past seventeen years. He said that while there were no Jews in Nazareth,-a colony of about 70 Jewish-refugees from Germany and Poland had bean established about •two miles from the town. The Jews had settled in an area six miles long by two miles wide, and here they were carrying out afforestation ami agricultural work. The colony was established about four years ago, and it was known as Keffer Kohrish, or the "Hill of the Breeze," on account of its situation. It received assistance from the Zionist movement, but apart from that it was self-contained. The settlement was communal, the men sleeping in one shelter and the women in another. So as to avoid any dispute over ownership of land the colony was entirely fenced with barb wire. The colony had been attacked by Arabs, some of whom looked upon the Jews as intruders. Recently two Jewish shepherds were killed and 400 sheep stolen, Arabs being responsible. The sheep were never found, probably because the offenders distributed them among the rest of the Arab population. Snipers attacked the colony on two or three occasibne. The Jews were supplied with a few rifles, and at night they employed a searchlight to locate possible attackers. Also, they were in telephonic communication with the police, who would render assistance if necessary. Down on the Plain of Armageddon below there were about twenty colonies consisting of Jewish refugees] from Germany and Poland, and similar conditions prevailed there. Altogether, said Dr. Balhgate, there were about 380,000 Jews in Palestine at the present time. Nazareth, he added, was not as foreign as some people might think, because nearly everybody (and the population of 9000 consisted almost solely of Arabs) spoke English. A large number of the men wore European dress, the only native wearing apparel beirlg a fez. Some of the women, too, were modern in their dress and outlook. "Lipstick is not unknown and bobbed hair is very popular," said Dr. Bathgate. Palestine was a very healthy country,, but eye diseases were prevalent, especially in the south.