British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 216

CHAPTER VII.

B. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BY LAND.

73. The length of the land-frontiers of Palestine, which in the north and south follow no natural physical features, makes effective frontier-control difficult, though some relief is afforded by the relative difficulty of the journeys from the south (Egypt) and east (Iraq and Persia).

74. During the summer of 1945 there was an influx of illegal Jewish immigrants on a substantial scale from Syria and the Lebanon, in particular the former. The greater number of these illegal immigrants have evaded apprehension. To reduce this traffic military patrols are used to supplement police action and a marked reduction was achieved in consequence, though much must be attributed to the slackening of tension in the Jewish communities in the Levant as the Franco-Syrian crisis subsided and to co-operation by the Syrian authorities. Illegal immigration over the Lebanese frontier continues on a moderate but steady scale.

75. There have been reports of small numbers of Jews entering Palestine from Egypt by the surreptitious use of military transport making use of army uniforms and forged papers. The total number involved is thought not to be considerable. Preventive measures against the utilization of service facilities to evade the immigration legislation are in the hands of the military authorities; and police patrols keep other methods of entry under control and prevent the number of illegal immigrants entering by such means reaching any significant volume.

76. One case is known in which a small party of Jews endeavoured to enter Palestine via Trans-Jordan by the misuse of military transport; and it is suspected that small numbers may have successfully entered from Iraq by this means. Preventive measures are of the same nature as those mentioned in the case of illegal immigration from Egypt (paragraph 75).

77*. The main provision of the Palestine legislation for the prevention illegal immigration are summarised below :

(a) The Immigration Ordinance, 1941 **.

(1) Section 8, sub-sections (3), ( 4) and (5), obliges the master of any ship or person in charge of any aircraft or motor or

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* Since this paragraph went to the press the legislation for the prevention of illegal immigration has been consolidated and tightened by amendments to the Immigration Ordinance, 1941, effected in Regulation 11 of the Defence (Emergency) (Amendment) Regulations, 1946 (pages 156-163 of Palestine Gazette No. 1470 of 28/1/46).

** Laws of 1941, Vol. I, page 6.

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