A Survey of Palestinian Industry: Cement, Stone & Glass in Palestine before 1948 (Nakba), British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 530. Chapter XIII: Section 4

CHAPTER XIII.

launches, lighters and fishing boats, on a modest scale, has also been commenced. The raw material is only in part derived from local sources; imports of timber are essential as the domestic woods

are not particularly suitable for wood-working. •

VIII. CEMENT AND STONE.

157. The Nesher Portland Cement Company was erected in 1922.

Production amounted to 219,000 tons in 1942. The Company provides employment for about 300 workers apart from those engaged in the quarries which supply it with raw material. The product is used principally for construction purposes though there is also a limited production of cement items such as pipes and similar pre-cast articles.

158. The abundance of stone suitable for construction provided, even in 1939, employment for about 500 workers. In 1943 it was estimated that 1,000 workers were engaged in extracting, cutting and crushing stone for the military establishments alone.

IX. GLASS.

159. The production of window glass, glass ampules and glassware has been developed during the war. The 1944 output• of 2,800 tons, or 555,000 square metres of window glass not only sufficed domestic requirements but provided a surplus of 30% to meet the increasing demands from adjacent territories. This industry has post-war potentialities, since it disposes of a well trained staff and enjoys a competitive advantage over the imported product which normally suffers breakage during transport of at least 15%. Extensions now in progress on the has is of a new Fourcoult plant will increase the capacity to 13,000 tons per year. As the post-war Middle East annual offtake is expected to be in the neighbourhood of 25 ,000 tons there should be adequate scope for the sale of this product.

160. A modern equipped bottle plant, for the production of bottles, jars, containers and domestic glass-ware, with. an annual capacity of 6,000 tons, is now under construction and upon completion will relieve the prevailing shortage in bottles and containers.

161. Local factories for household glass, utilizing broken glass as the principal raw material during the war years, which had an output of 3,000 tons in 1944, have suffered a setback with the first arrivals of the better quality foreign products. The main articles locally produced are tumblers, saucers and plates, fruit jars, lamp chimneys, carboys and low tension porcelain insulators.

162. The manufacture of scientific glass-ware is a budding industry with future promise.

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