Court case in Jordan re. release of Arab refugees’ bank deposits in Israel – UNCCP – Letter from Israel

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

Letter dated 16 June 1949 addressed by Dr. Walter Eytan, Head of the Delegation of Israel,

to the Principal Secretary of the Conciliation Commission

Dear Mr. Azcarate,

I should be much obliged if you would draw the Conciliation Commission’s attention to an interesting news item broadcast by Radio Beirut on the morning of June 8th.

It appears, according to this source, that a Palestinian Arab recently sued the Ottoman Bank, Amman, for payment of the sum standing to his credit at the Ottoman Bank’s branch in Haifa. The Ottoman Bank refused to pay.

In giving judgment for the Ottoman Bank last week, the Amman court held that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover his money nor the Bank obliged to pay “until the Palestine problem had been solved in all its aspects”.

It occurs to me that the demands which have been made at Lausanne for the immediate release of such bank balances might well be considered in the light of this judgment delivered by a Transjordan court in what is stated to have been a test case.

Yours sincerely,

(s) Walter Eytan