Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 63

63 countries. Contacts were maintained and developed in Trans-Jordan, Egypt, the Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Turkey and India. On the occasion of the Coronation festivities in London a member of the staff of the Political Deparament was sent to London where he established useful contacts with various oriental personages who attended the Coronation. 88. During the period under review and through all its successive stages the Executive explored every avenue that might lead to an agreement with the Arab leaders by direct negotiations. These efforts found no response in official Arab quarters. During the disturbances a number of indirect and tentative offers of pourparlers reached the Executive of which it was difficult to probe the seriousness. Nevertheless, the Executive eagerly responded to all such approaches and took pains to ascertain their real import. In all these cases, however, the intermediaries had suggested such preliminary conditions or outlined such schemes of agreement as placed these offers of mediation definitely outside the realm of practical politics. ECONOMIC QUESTIONS 87. At the beginning of this Report reference was made to the representations addressed to the Government in London soon after the last Congress regarding the need for Government assistance to industrial development. Similar representations were made at that time in Jerusalem. Particular stress was laid on the urgent necessity for the adoption of anti-dumping measures in order to protect the young Palestinian industries against unfair competition. At the same time the Jewish Agency assisted the Manufacturers' Association in the preparation of material submitted in support of its demands for tariff modifications. These submissions met with an appreciable measure of success. In January 1936, a series of tariff alterations were enacted which, though they failed to satisfy the full demands of the industries concerned, provided a marked measure of relief and enabled them to hold their own and make progress. In March 1936, a comprehensive "Memorandum on the Position of Industry and the Problem of Tariff Policy in Palestine" was submitted to the Government. During 1936 relief was provided by the Government in a number of cases which showed that the representations made by the Executive had borne fruit.