British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 694

CHAPTER XVI.

Table 12.

SLUM AREAS JN JAFFA.

Population (end 1915) I Density
Name of quarter Built-up area I I I I"''
(Dun urns) Arabs Jews Tota.I j dunum
19.800 I I
(I) Manshiye 352 9,000 128,800 81.8
(2) Irsheid 68 5,800 - 5,800 85.3
(3) West Maalaq 15 1,400 - 1,400 93.3
(4) Old City 120 6,800 - 6,800 56.7
(5) Bi rket Qammar 95 7,200 - 7,200 75.8
(6) South Jabalaye 36 4,000 - 4,000 111.1
(7) Abu Kbir 58 5,400 - 5,400 93.1
(8) Shapira 250 - 9,000 9,000 36.0
--- --- ---
Total 994 50,400 18,000 68,400 68.8

149. The estimated population of Jaffa (municipal boundaries) by the end of 1945 is 104,000 (72,000 Arabs and 32,000 Jews). According to the figures in table 12, 70% of the Arabs and 56% of the Jews live in slum areas. Jaffa has the largest slum population in the country and some of the worst slums. A feature of the largest areas mentioned above is the unrelieved slum character of the districts. With few exceptions there are no better houses and no open spaces. The high density figures are due to gross over-crowding (4-5 persons per room is common), the relatively larger number of houses of more than one or two story and the narrow space left for streets and lanes. A block in the Manshieh quarter , approximately one dun um in extent, was recently inspected and found to contain 151 persons (33 families living in 34 rooms). In Irsheid quarter near the sea, chiefly inhabited by fishermen, a block one dunum in extent was arbitrarily selected and found to contain 173 persons (34 families in 39 rooms). Here most of the dwellings are single-storied and in a state of considerable dilapidation.

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