Wider possibilities seem opening to the Jews to enter Transjordania peacefully as an extension of Palestine settlement through the lease of land offered to them by Arab sheiks.
Today Mithkal Pasha, the most influential sheik in Transjordania, and head of the largest Beduin tribe — the Bnei Sakhr — followed the precedent set by Emir Abdullah himself and made an offer to lease 100,000 dunams of land to the Jews.
Emir Abdullah, it was reported, leased to a Jewish company 50,000 dunams of his own land for a period of ninety-nine years.
Mithkal Pasha’s land offer, according to the Arab paper “El Islamia” was dictated by the need for funds to keep his tribe from starving. The tribe, it is stated, has been reduced to dire straits by the apalling economic situation in Transjordania.
The Hebrew paper “Davar” discloses today that Transjordanian tribe heads have for some time been approaching the Jewish Agency with offers for the sale of land. The miserable situation of Transjordania as compared with the prosperity in Palestine convinces them that the salvation of Transjordania can come only through the Jews, the tribe leaders are reported to have said. These same leaders have urged Emir Abdullah to encourage the Jews to settle in Transjordan, the paper writes.
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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.
