The Arab League’s anti-Israel boycott office, at Damascus, announced today that it has “suspended” its threatened blacklisting of the Chase Manhattan of New York as an agent for Israel Bond transactions.
The Arab Boycott Committee threatened the bank, which has extensive financial operations in the Arab states, that it would be barred from such dealings if id did not comply by December 31 with its restrictions against trading with Israel. The ultimatum expired on New Year’s Day.
Mohammed Majoub, commissioner general of the Arab League Boycott head office, announced in Damascus the suspension of the ultimatum, according to reports from Syria. A spokesman for the bank here said the bank had not received any official word of the extension, and had no comment on the matter.
The Arab League official said that the suspension was approved after the committee received “certified documents” from the bank, which emphasized that its relations with Israel were of “a purely banking nature.” He added that, if all the regional boycott bureaus in the 13 Arab League member states accepted the documents, the resolution to boycott the bank would be dropped. He said that the Egyptian bureau had already replied it found the documents satisfactory.
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