The boycott which the Arab countries have proclaimed against Israel “has not been successful” as a policy of economic strangulation, the current issue of Fortune, leading American business magazine, states. “Not enough foreign companies have been intimidated to halt the growth of Israeli foreign trade, which has jumped 29 percent to $470, 000, 000 in the last four years, ” an editorial in the publication emphasizes.
The article points out that while some American and British firms are allegedly submitting to Arab pressure, West Germany is ignoring the Arab requests to boycott Israel. It expresses the opinion that the Arab boycott has served as a stimulus to Israel’s intensified economic evolution by promoting the need for greater self-reliance. It also stresses the fact that the Israelis would prefer a free exchange of goods across borders now sealed by Arab hatred. “
“Businessmen throughout the world were in receipt some months ago of a strange questionnaire, ” Fortune editorial says. ” Dated Cairo, Egypt, the questionnaire pressed them for information on whether their firms were guilty of having Jewish ownership or participation. To such shenanigans has Egypt’s Nasser been reduced in his untiring effort to enforce on Israel a boycott that was first promulgated in 1945 by the Arab League and is now technically the law in every Arab state. Under the boycott there is today no telegraphic or telephone connection between Israel and the Arab states, nor is there any rail or sea communication. Planes using Israeli airfields are forbidden to fly over Arab land and ships calling at Israeli ports are blacklisted by the boycotters. The current blacklist numbers some 100 vessels, over half of British registry.
“The boycott has been strictly observed by Middle East oil companies anxious to please their Arab landlords. ” the editorial continues. ” Aramco, for instance, has reportedly gone so far as to threaten to cancel its contracts with European firms producing such innocent apparatus as floating roofs for water tanks if those firms do business with Israel. Other companies allegedly abiding by the squeeze include BOAC. Philips, American Express, and British-American Tobacco, ail of which have shut down operation in Israel in recent years.
“On the other hand, Arab states have been reluctant to bar lucrative trade with foreign areas simply on the grounds of the boycott. A case in point is West Germany, which was threatened with loss of all its business with the Arabs if it signed a reparations agreement with Israel. Bonn signed, and the Arab League looked the other way; there is quite a flourishing trade today between West Germany and the Arab states. All in all, the Arab boycott must be regarded as an immense irritant for Israel. As a policy of economic strangulation it has not been successful, Fortune states.
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