As the Arab League boycott of Jewish goods manufactured in Palestine entered into its third day today, there was increasing evidence that the Arabs were encountering difficulties in enforcing it.
The Palestine Arab Higher Committee at a meeting today decided to appeal to the local Arab population to boycott Jewish firms, and appointed a committee to coordinate plans for enforcement of the ban with the Arab chambers of commerce and commercial concerns.
At the same time, the secretary of the Arab Chamber of Commerce here, in a statement apparently aimed at explaining why Arabs were continuing to patronize Jewish enterprises, told a press conference that the Palestine Arabs were unable to start the boycott immediately, since war conditions had created close inter-dependence between the Jewish and Arab markets. Jewish industries, Hayal Dajani said, need Arab raw materials, while Arab enterprises sometimes need Jewish raw materials.
“Zionist” goods which must be replaced, he added, included margarine, textiles, cosmetics, stationery, office equipment and beer. The commerce official stressed that the Arabs have been asked only to refrain from buying from Jews, and may, if they wish, continue to sell their products to Jews.
Chief Secretary John V. W. Shaw of the Palestine Government, at a press conference yesterday, said that the Government has received no official intimation that the boycott will be imposed by neighboring states. Nevertheless, he continued, in view of the reports appearing in the newspapers and elsewhere, the Government was giving preliminary consideration to the situation which might arise in Palestine if the boycott was imposed and the means which the Government might find necessary to use to protect all inhabitants of the country. At present, he added, no special action is felt to be necessary.
A report from Cairo said that a meeting of Arab diplomats in Cairo had discussed means of coordinating the boycott, while in Baghdad the Iraq cabinet today officially implemented the boycott decision, barring not only Jewish imports from Palestine, but exports to Jewish firms there.
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