British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 931

CHAPTER XXII.

a. Telegram may be sent in any of the three languages, but, if in Hebrew, they must be written in Latin characters, it not being practicable at present for the Post Office to transmit telegrams in Hebrew characters.

4. All railway and road notices will be in the three languages.

5. In municipal and rural areas, where there is a considerable Jewish population, the three languages will be used in the Offices of the District and Sub-District Governors, of the Municipalities and other official bodies, in the same manner as in the Government Departments. Such Districts will be termed Trilingual Areas. They will be specified by the High Commissioner. The present Trilingual Areas are: Jerusalem City, Jaffa Town and District, Ramleh Town and Sub-district, Haifa. Town, Zummarin Sub-district, Sub-districts of Tiberias and Safad. Other areas may be added from time to time, the guiding principle being the presence of a proportion of not less than 20 per cent. of Jews in the population of the area. In districts which have not been declared to be Trilingual Areas, Arabic alone, or both English and Arabic, may be used as is convenient; provided that nothing in this order shall prevent the use of Hebrew if the occasion requires.

6. In the Courts of Law and Land Registries of a Trilingual Area, every process, every official copy of a judgment. and every official document shR.11 be issued in the language of the person to whom it is addressed; and written and oral pleadings shall be conducted in any of the three languages. The Legal Secretary may from time to time issue rules restricting the languages of pleading in any Court or class of Courts outside the Trilingual Areas.

In a Trilingual Area the public notary of the Court shall, and in any other area he may, accept a. declaration and register a document in any of the three official languages."

124. The Government practice set out in this notice is substantially the same as that of to-day. The trilingual areas in which all three languages are used have considerably expanded and now comprise the whole country with the exception of those sub-districts in the hill areas which are almost entirely Arab. The Palestine Gazette, reports of official commissions and committees, official communiques and departmental publications are published in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. The Palestine note issue and currency are also inscribed in the three official languages. A Central Translation Bureau is attached to the Secretariat for the translation into Arabic and Hebrew of the Palestine Gazette, Government reports and other official publications. Interpreters are also provided for interpretation at meetings of official advisory boards and committees and at special interviews when members of the public are present.

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