A campaign to persuade Emir Abdullah of Transjordania to prevent the lease of land to the Jews, as a land reserve for Jewish settlement, was launched today by the Arab press in both Palestine and Syria.
The Arab press concludes that Emir Abdullah has either concluded or is about to conclude an agreement for the lease of the 50,000 dunams of his personal domain, the lease of which he advertised in the Transjordania press “to all who wish to acquire it.”
The Damascus Arab paper “Al Iyam” states that it is able to report definitely that Emir Abdullah has practically signed an agreement. According to the agreement, the Jews are to lease 70,000 dunams of the Emir’s lands in the vicinity of Shuna between Allenby Bridge and Alsalt, bordering Palestine. The rental is £2,000 annually for a period of ninety-nine years, “Al Iyam” states.
The Palestine press expresses the anxious view that Emir Abdullah’s act will be followed by other Pashas and that Transjordan will be opened wide to Zionist immigration. Jews will be permitted to penetrate to Transjordan, now that they have a strong foothold in Palestine, they state.
The Arab papers appeal to Emir Abdullah “not to capitulate to Zionist money.”
In a long and bitter editorial, the “Falastin” asserts that the offer to lease Transjordan land to the Jews marks the end of Transjordania’s isolation and the beginning of Jewish colonization there.
The Arab Independent Party, at a meeting today, resolved to take measures to prevent the consummation of the transaction. An appeal to high official quarters is contemplated.
The repeated visits to Jerusalem by Mithkal Pasha al Faiz towards the end of last year, occasioned a great deal of criticism in the Arab press where it was rumored that he was engaged in negotiations for the sale of tribal lands to Jews. In an interview with him reported in an Arab paper, Mithkal was said to have complained bitterly against the Moslem Supreme Council, from whom he had unsuccessfully tried to borrow money for the purchase of bread and seed for the starving Bnei Sakhr, the largest of the Transjordan Beduin tribes of which he is head. He declared that he had even offered them the best of his own lands as security.
Asked whether he would sell his lands to the Jews, he expressed himself in a way that left no room for doubt that he would do anything to relieve the serious distress among his fellow-tribesmen.
More recently Mithkal Pasha made a statement to a representative of the “Alif Ba”, of Damascus, in which he pointed to the possibility of trouble in Transjordan unless something were done to alleviate the poverty of the peasants and the larger landowners.
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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.
