Although there is a conflict in British official circles on whether the government should discourage or encourage the growth of Palestine industry, the dominant school of thought favors the latter policy, Harry Viteles, general manager of the Central Bank of Cooperative Institutions in Palestine, said today.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Viteles, who recently arrived here to negotiate the purchase of machinery and other equipment for Palestine factories, said that the British circles favoring growth of Palestine industry believe that it can furnish a steady market for capital goods from Britain, and will not seriously hamper British trade in the Middle East.
Mr. Viteles stressed the necessity for Palestine industry to obtain millions of dollars worth of industrial machinery, automobiles, farm machinery, and much other industrial equipment in the United States. He said that after the war Palestine and the entire Middle East will be an important market for American goods of all kinds.
“It is estimated,” he said, “that a considerable part of the industrial equipment of 7,000 workshops, small plants and manufacturing establishments in Palestine, costing $50,000,000, will have to be replaced as soon as possible because most of these are old, worn out and out of date, Other imports from the United States, urgently needed, include buses, automobiles, tractors, agricultural machinery, and building materials.
“Palestine industry will require very little financing from the United States for the modern equipment which it must import,” he continued. “The manufacturers who need this machinery either have the cash reserves or they can obtain the necessary funds from the Palestine Economic Corporation and other financial institutions,”
Mr. Viteles is an American who has resided in Palestine for the past 20 years. He is a member of the General Agricultural Council of the Palestine Government and former chairman of the Government Marketing Committee.
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.
