British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 146

CHAPTER VI.

From the hill area Acre sub-district extends west across the plain of Acre to the sea, Nazareth south into the plain of Esdraelon, Tiberias east to the Sea of Galilee and Safad north-east to The marshes of the Lake Huleh area.

12. In the classification of population according to sub-districts a distinction is introduced between urban and rural localities. The classification of localities as urban and rural is necessary though somewhat inexact. Many Arab small towns are little more than large villages, while many Jewish colonies classified as towns have retained much of their original rural character. Changes in municipal boundaries throughout the period render the figures for the large towns somewhat uncertain.

13. As changes have taken place in the administrative divisions and in the classification of localities as rural and urban during the period 1922-44 it has been necessary to arrange the data to fit the administrative divisions of both 1931 and 1944. The following tables 7a, 7b and 7c give, for the rural population, the urban population and the total population, the distribution by religions and localities in 1922 and 1931, according to the administrative framework of HJ31. Tables Ba and 8b and Sc give the corresponding distribution of the population in 1931 and 1944, according to the administrative framework of 1944. While the data for 1922 and 1931 are taken from the census figures, those for 1944 are compiled as indicated in section C below. The figures in tables Ta, 7b and Tc include His Majesty's Forces and the nomadic population; those in tables Sa, 8b and 8c include His Majesty's Forces but exclude the nomadic population in respect of 1931, and exclude both these categories in respect of 1()44.

14. Tables 9a, 9b and 9c show the number of persons (and the percentages) of each religion living in villages, small towns, medium-sized towns and large towns in 1922, 1931 and 1944. 'Table 10 shows for each sub-district The percentage of the inhabitants belonging to each religion.

Page 146