Arabs Want Share of U.S. Currency Collected by American Zionists for Palestine

A memorandum urging that Arabs share in the dollar currency collected by Zionist funds in the United States, if such monies are spent in America for merchandise to be sent to Palestine, was submitted today by the Arab Chamber of Commerce to the Palestine Government.

The demand is based on the recent decision of the Palestine Government to allow the Jewish Agency to spend part of the funds collected in the United States for commedities needed in Palestine, providing that these commodities cannot be purchased in England. The Arab memorandum requests that American currency cleared by the Palestine Treasury Department for Palestine import, even though collected by Jews in the United States, be allotted not only to the Jews, but also to the Arabs in proportion to the numerical strength of each community.

Meanwhile, the economic interests of Arab citrus growers have lod them to split with political leaders who are opposing the proposal that a joint Arab-Jewish delegation go to London to discuss the position of the citrus industry. The extremist politicians, such as Dr. Hussein el Khalidi and Abdul Hadi, object to the delegation because it involves Arab-Jewish cooperation.

However, in an open letter today to the influential Arab newspaper Falastin, the growers point out that, firstly, the delegation is not a political one; secondly, if Arabs sit side by side with Jews in municipal councils, why can they not do so in trade delegations; and , lastly, they argue that the Arabs own 140,000 dunams of groves with an annual output of $8,000,000 which is an important part of the Arab national income. “If only the Jewish growes go to London, they will have a free hand there,” the letter emphasizes.