The steadfastness with which the American Economic Committee for Palestine, which was organized early this year to furnish American families and individuals desiring to settle or make investments in Palestine with the information required to fulfill their wishes, has adhered to its program and policy of devoting itself exclusively to the economic field is beginning to bear fruit in the shape of the increased recognition of the Committee’s offices as one of the most important agencies for the economic development of Palestine, declared Robert Szold, a leading member of the Committee, in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Through its ‘Economic Information Bureaus’ in New York and Tel Aviv, the Committee carries out a work which, though its very nature debars it from the ordinary light of publicity, is of incalculable value to prospective settlers and investors anxious to have disinterested information on specific economic possibilities. It has been found that inquirers are inclined to put faith in the information and reports supplied by a non-profit making, impartial, fact-finding body like the American Economic Committee for Palestine, which has no party or political affiliations,” Mr. Szold pointed out.
“Thus during the past few months the Committee’s influence and reputation in Palestine have grown to such an extent that very important and influential economic bodies in the country have begun to centralize in the Committee’s Bureau their activities in the interest of the prospective or newly-arrived immigrant. This applies particularly to such organizations as the Farmers Federation and the Manufacturers Association. In every case, it is a sine qua non that advisory committees of experts on particular subjects would be represented, a condition made necessary by the purely fact-finding character of the work to which the Committee is restricted,” explained Mr. Szold.
“Of interest also is the growing volume of personal and mail inquiries about business, agricultural, investment and settlement problems coming to the ‘Economic Information Bureaus’ in New York and in Palestine. A considerable number of the mail inquiries received by the Tel Aviv Bureau came from individuals in Europe; in many cases it is the report of the Committee which is the decisive factor as to whether a prospective settler will embark on a particular project.
“The services of the Committee are at the disposal of immigrants from all countries. Of particular interest in this connection is a request recently received by the Committee from the South African Zionist Federation asking for permission to utilize the facilities of the Committee’s Tel Aviv Bureau for the purpose of furnishing South African Jews of substantial or medium means with information and guidance in their Palestine investment and settlement problems. The Committee immediately accorded the South African Zionists the full use of the Bureau in Tel Aviv,” Mr. Szold concluded.
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.
