The Israel Cabinet yesterday held an extraordinary session devoted entirely to the question of whether the government should purchase the Palestine Electric Corporation. A dispute within the Cabinet forced postponement of a decision until the next regular session Sunday.
Previously, the Cabinet discussed the matter at several sessions and could come to no agreement on the terms of the purchase. According to an informed source, the General Zionist Ministries yesterday opposed the purchase of a majority of the utility company’s stock, on the grounds that it was too expensive a proposition and because it would set an “anti-free enterprise” precedent.
The same source revealed that the government has already invested more than the shareholders in the company’s expansion program. The corporation has failed to obtain new capital investments to keep up with an expansion program geared to the country’s growing power needs.
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.
