British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 223

CHAPTER VII.

consulate or a recognised body such as the Polish welfare delegation or the Czech repatriation mission as desirous of returning to their country of origin; these figures include both Jews and non-Jews; and

(b) non-Jewish refugees the temporary nature of whose residence in Palestine is assumed from the fact that they are not Jews, but who have not yet registered for repatriation. The two categories are thus mutually exclusive and, together, give a total which is as close an approximation as can be obtained at present.

N ATIONALITY (a) (b) TOTAL,
Poles 2.500 5,000 7,500
Czechs 3,000 900 3,900
Greeks 300 300
Yugoslavs 1,800 10 1,810
Rumanians 800 300
Germans 270 270
Austrians 150 - 150
Hungarians 150 - 150
Various others 100 50 150
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TOTALS 8,000 6,580 14,530 All the Greek and 600 out of the 1,800 Yugoslav refugees in category (a) are Jews; information cannot readily be obtained of the number of Jews included in the other figures in category (a), with the exception of the 100 persons classified under "various others''. These 100 persons are Jewish refugees from Europe who escaped to Cyprus in the first place and were then evacuated during the war to Palestine. They are maintained by His Majesty's Government pending a decision as to their status. The figure of 5,000 Poles under category (b) includes about 300 nonJewish deserters from the Polish Forces.

87. In addition to the 7 ,500 Poles included in the above figures there are about 2,500 Jewish war refugees from Poland who entered Palestine on immigration certificates and who receive relief through the Polish welfare delegation; this relief will cease as from the 1st February, 1946, and it is possible that some of these refugees may now desire to return to Poland. There is also in Palestine a considerable number, believed to be in the neighbourhood of 03,600, of Jewish deserters from the Polish Forces. It is considered unlikely that many of these will wish to leave Palestine.

88. About 80 refugees of various nationalities, who are unemployable permanently in Palestine, are maintained by the Palestine Government through the Department of Social Welfare, by

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