The right to build a railroad from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba, which is an arm of the Red Sea, has been granted to the Anglo-Jewish firm which, headed by Moses Novomejsky and Major Tulloch, a few years ago obtained the concession to exploit the minerals of the Dead Sea. The railroad when built will give the company direct access to the Asiatic and Australian markets, avoiding the high tariffs which must be paid for the use of the Suez Canal.
According to an agreement signed by King Hussein with the British government before the former was forced to abdicate, the town of Akaba on the Gulf and a strip of land which leads from it to the Dead Sea was made a part of Palestine. This agreement was later ratified in a treaty signed by Sir Gilbert Clayton, on behalf of Great Britain, and the Wahabite King, Ibn Saud, who expelled Hussein from Arabia.
The company, which is exploiting the Dead Sea minerals, does not plan to build the railroad in the near future. In the meantime it is transporting in trucks the first shipment of chemicals which have been obtained from the Dead Sea to Haifa or Jaffa. For the near future the company is planning to build a spur line to Jerusalem or Beisan for the purpose of facilitating the transportation of the chemicals from the Dead Sea to the main railroad line.
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.
