ARABS AND JEWS BEGIN COOPERATION

Citrus Growers and Dealers of Palestine Meet to Demand Aid From Britain

Wireless to The New York Times

ARABS AND JEWS BEGIN COOPERATION — The New York Times, 18 January 1940 — The New York Times · 18 January 1940

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Transcribed from the clipping

TEL AVIV, Palestine, Jan. 17—A strong desire for economic cooperation between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine to overcome common difficulties was demonstrated today when Arab and Jewish citrus farmers and traders met in Petach Tikvaah, a Jewish colony. The meeting was the first of its kind since the Arab disturbances began in 1936.

It was sponsored by the Jewish Farmers Federation and about 700 Jews attended. More than 100 Arabs represented the entire Arab orange-growing belt of Palestine. The Arabs included ardent Nationalists, one of them a leader of anti-Jewish disturbances.

One of the two Arab speakers, Auni Naboulsi, a prominent citrus merchant, said he would be happy to cooperate with the Jews in presenting the citrus growers’ grievances to the government. The conference elected a delegation of nine Jews and nine Arabs to meet the High Commissioner. If the meeting produces no practical result the delegation will go to London.

Stressing the French Government’s help to Syrian fruit exporters, the Arabs and Jews voted to demand an amendment to the mandate allowing the entry of imports from foreign countries to balance exports to those countries from Palestine. They asked a government loan for working groves or a guarantee of such loans from private banks.

Other requests were for abolition of the land tax on citrus groves, for the government to cease selling farms for debts or arresting farmers for debts until a way is found to consolidate debts, and for the British Government to supply suitable transport for fruit, emphasizing British wartime action in other parts of the empire.

The Jewish representatives on the delegation are headed by Moshe Smilansky, president of the Jewish Farmers Federation. The Arabs include Shawki Bey Taji of Wadi Hanin and Auni Naboulsi. The meeting ended with a meal for the guests of the traditional Arab dish, whole sheep cooked with rice and oriental delicacies.

How this transcription was made

Transcribed from the slide scan by a reader working off magnified crops, not by optical character recognition. The newspaper is printed on the clipping, in the credit line “Wireless to The New York Times” above the dateline; there is no reporter’s name. The clipping is a single cut column with no masthead, no folio and no printed year. The day and month come from the printed dateline, “TEL AVIV, Palestine, Jan. 17”; the YEAR comes from the hand-typed slide label, corroborated by the article’s references to the Arab disturbances of 1936 as past and to British wartime action, which place it after September 1939. The headline stack on the page has four banks; the first two are recorded as headline and dek, and the third and fourth read “GOVERNMENT LOANS ASKED” and “Delegation to Seek Transport for Products and Ban on Sale of Farms for Debts”.

Cite this clipping

"ARABS AND JEWS BEGIN COOPERATION," The New York Times, 18 January 1940. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1940-004. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1940-004