British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 691

CHAPTER XVI.

medical grounds and the Director of Social Welfare is the Chairman of the Committee appointed for this purpose. An account of the work of this Committee and its relation to the general resettlement scheme will be found in paragraph 93 bf section 7 in chapter XVII.

A sum of £P.20,000 is included in the Department's budget for the purpose of giving temporary financial assistance to disabled ex-servicemen for the period from discharge until they are either rehabilitated or proved to be fit for work and transfer to the Resettlement Committee. In addition Government contributes approximately £P.ll,600 for the treatment of ex-servicemen in non-Government hospitals and sanatoria.

SLUM CONDITIONS IN URBAN AREAS.

141. A recent quick survey made by the Department into slum conditions in the principal urban areas throws an interesting light on one facet of the circumstances of social welfare in Palestine. The results of this survey are described below.

142. It is difficult precisely to define what is meant by the term slum conditions. There is, in fact, no general definition that could be applied internationally as living conditions can only by judged in relation to standards of living, custom, tradition and all the imponderables that together provide the opportunity for a healthy and happy life.

143. Over-crowding, badly designed housing, lack of adequate indoor sanitation, no modern water-borne sewerage system, Jack of made-up roads, in fact all the physical symptoms of slum conditions can be found in many areas in all the towns in Palestine. That all these areas cannot at present be classified as slums is due entirely to the class of resident and not to the amenities of the district.

144. The areas listed in the following tables cannot, therefore, be defined as being exclusively slum districts, but they contain the largest proportion of bad and insanitary housing and are inhabited for the most part by people of the lowest income levels. As is usual, this income group in urban districts lives in a state of appalling over-crowding.

145. All population figures given in tables 10 to 14 are estimated figures for the end of 1945 of persons living within the municipal boundaries of the respective towns. The figures are arrived at by taking into consideration various sources of information and, in particular estimates given by the municipalities.

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