Recent announcement that the Standard Oil Company had commenced oil drilling operations in the southern part of Hebron has brought out the information that a Philadelphia Civil Engineer, Joseph F. Hasskarl, found evidences of oil in Palestine in 1912.
“While visiting Palestine in 1912”, Mr. Hasskarl says, “I observed signs of oil in the Valley of the Jordan and near the shores of the Dead Sea. When I returned to London I tried to get some of my friend there to back me while I made a thorough survey of the part of the country with a view of definitely locating oil lands, and so forth My friends took the matter up and learned that that for many years the presence of oil in Palestine was suspected but that under Turkish rule nothing could be done in the way of making fair or satisfactory arrangements for developing the resources of that country, so I dropped the matter”.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
