The military authorities in the West Bank agreed yesterday to allow the area’s mayors to meet to discuss common problems–the first time approval has been given for such a request, after numerous rejections, since the Six-Day War. The mayors will convene Aug. 18 in Bet Sachur, a village near Bethlehem, to consider practical measures against the Lebanese-proposed Arab boycott of West Bank agricultural products. The chairmen of the West Bank Chambers of Commerce will not participate in the meeting, which they consider a political maneuver that will only complicate the issue. They have instead requested a permit to hold their annual meeting in Bethlehem on Aug. 15 to discuss the same problem among themselves. The failure of the West Bank leaders to come to a mutual understanding has caused Hamdy Kanaan, former mayor of Nablus, to initiate a public drive for democratic elections in the occupied territory. He and his followers are soliciting West Bankers’ signatures on a petition to that effect. A spokesman for the military authorities said that policy is to hold elections in the area only if the majority of the residents want them. So far, he said, the authorities are not convinced of such a desire. The discussion by the mayors about the Arab states’ threat to boycott agricultural products from the West Bank as of next month will be raised by Lebanon at the Arab League meeting in Cairo in September.
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