Prosperity in Palestine Encourages Settlement by Jewish Immigrants

In spite of the depression, Palestine is enjoying a phenomenal prosperity, reflected in expanded foreign trade, a government surplus and an acute shortage of labor, according to the Palestine Economic News, bulletin issued by the American Economic Committee for Palestine. The committee is devoted to the encouragement of private initiative in and promotion of the economic development of Palestine. Judge Julian W. Mack is honorary president and Israel B. Brodie is president of the committee.

The current survey is prefaced with a statement by Dr. Paul P. Gourrich, consultant economist to leading financial institutions in this country and an authority on railroads, who terms the economic situation in Palestine “almost as miraculous as the miracles of the Exodus.” In a world harassed by staggering unemployment and unbalanced budgets, Palestine emerges as “the one bright ray of sunlight” and constitutes “a challenge to world economy—the proof that, when confronted with will power and determination, so-called economic laws and cycles become meaningless and fictitious.”

The bulletin contains statistical tables on price movements, foreign trade, agricultural and industrial development, immigration, government finances, etc., reflecting the unique prosperity of this pioneer country. The excess of government receipts over expenditures for the five-month period ending August 31, 1933, amounts to £482,272 as compared to a surplus of £190,978 for the same period last year.

Imports during the three months of April, May and June 1933 totalled £2,498,060 as compared to £1,660,526 in 1932. Exports of oranges for the same three months rose from 86,054 cases in 1932 to 137,728 cases in 1933.

The number of Jewish industrial enterprises rose from 2,475 in 1929 to 3,132 in 1933, with a corresponding rise in invested capital from £2,235,000 to £4,630,000 and an increase in the number of employees and working employers from 10,968 to 16,870 persons.