THE ARAB BOYCOTT - A STUDY IN GAMESMANSHIP

Created: 8/1/1967

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

persons, and even Individual ships that have/ done buslnese with lareol. At leaet TOO Weetorn ftrme ara on tbe boycott lift, Includingrom tha US. Baoomnenaa11ons for Inclusion or deletion are made by tba Central Office for tbe Boycott of Israel, Which operate* under the Arab League and Which bai lte headquarter* In Damascus. Representatives of th* Boycott Office* ln tha Arab atetag meat periodically. The no at recant meeting was heldn Alexandria.

theory, tba Arab iUtu Voyoott anyone oootrlbutlngecononlcrIU ara placed on ths boycottthey are owned by Java or do business with Israel. Ind1viduaplaced on the Hat for actions deemed pro-Jewish. Sotand Individuals whichto Beet these criteriaplaced on tha list. Itoroover, action against firms

cr individuals on tha list is left to the Individual Arab countries. Dapleaentatlon le often hit or nlao. Xh practice, tha Arab countries are careful not tooycott which would do them serious economic damage. ure way to get on the list is tolant ln Israel. Bophta Loren la on the Hat because eho mede an allegedly pro- Israeli film and Prank Sinatra because of his participation In Israeli bond drives.

fires boycotted engageida variety of The bulk of tbaa are involved ln shipping orsome najor manufacturing fires are included. Among theconcerns blacklisted are) ford, Sears Roebuck, Kaiserand Coca Cola. In no Instance, however, hae any Arabitself off froa tho only major supplier of essential or

especially doalraDle ccaaaodttUg for toy extended period of tine.

'-. Tho Arab boycott has not been applied against major banking effort vaa made Into boycott the Chose Manhattan bank, but tali abortive effort had no significant effect on

e's operations in tha Middle Baat. Egyptian reluctance to lose the lending facilities of Chase Manhattan vas ln large pert responsible for tha failure of this effort. Egypt supported tha boycott publicly, but opposed Iteeting of the Boycott Office. audi official.eteted that considerations of public service precluded piecing Chase on the Hat.

5* Restrictions vera not Imposed on air transport firms until tho outbreak of tho recent Areb-Iareell Var. The US airlines operating ln the Middle East are TKA end Pan American; TWA calls et Tel Aviv (PanAm does not) as vsll as Cairo end other Kiddle Festers cities. When the var broke out, most of the airports In tbe Hiddle Beet vera closed to these companies, but this restriction- been lifted ln most instances. Only Cairo and Algiers rerain closed. This situation rose more out of the var and the brooks ln Uo-Arab relations than out of the boycott per se.

6. Prior to hostilities, use of the Sues Canal vas denied to any ship or shipping line dealing vlth Israel. "The ban applied to Israeli flag ehlpe or to veesele carrying cargo to or from Israeli ports. Vlth an occaelonal exception for paaaenger crulee vessels whose owners agreed to special measures such as sealed hatches, this Egyptian denial of the Canal vaa totally offectlve. At present, the Canal le of course obstructed by sunken vessels end closed.

T. vith the outbreak of bostllltlee, aome effort vas made to boycott all US and UK goode ln the Arab countries. This action his not been successful except possibly ln Syria. US and UK flag ships, however, ere not being unloaded ln Algeria, tha UAS, Lebanon, Syria, and Libya. In Lebenon end Libya, the embargo Is Imposed by unions rather than by the government. This action has resulted in aome curtailment of trade vlth the US and the UK.

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he boycott has been honored more In the breach then in the observance. Individual countries have refused to accept some cf the racoessendations of the Central Office, duxrry companies have been created to circumvent many of the restrictions, and frequently the boycott rulee ere simply Ignored. The boycott eppeare to heve been most stringently applied by Syria and,esser extont, by Iraq. '(

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9. With the heightened tension* of tho Arib-IaraeUonsiderable stiffening of the Arab attitude toward tha boycott became apparent. Already, however, some relaxation is appearing In Lebanon, 6audl Arabia, and ln other moderate Arab countries. Even Egypt Is continuing to purchase US end UK Items either directly or through third parties. Over tha next few months, nearly all of the Arab countries vlll probably find some means to circumvent the bcr/cott regulation* to tha extent that they want tha good involved, although continuing to proclaim their cottsllance publicly.

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COiptTIAL

Original document.

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