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the various objections, in which he was followed
by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
In the course of the discussion many
objections were raised against the proposals of
the Zionist Organisation. A number of tentative
alternative suggestions were considered for
assisting the Zionist Organisation to raise a
Loan, whether by an international guarantee, by
a purely British guarantee, or by means of an
investigation by the Financial organ of the
League of Nations into the soundness of the
proposal; but each of these suggestions was
found open to considerable objection.
The Cabinet were also reminded that before
long they were likely to be asked to consider
the projected railway and pipeline from Paghdad
to the Mediterranean, which, in the absence of
some financial support or guarantee, were
liable to be brought by the shorter route to some
port in Syria instead of to Haifa, and it was
suggested that the credit of the country
ought not to be pledged in support of the form
of development of Palestine involved in the
Zionist proposal until the railway and pipeline
had been considered. It was also pointed out that
details were lacking both as to the purposes to
which the proceeds of the projected Zionist Loan
were to be devoted and as to the financial
results of the earlier schemes of settlement of
the Zionist Organisation.
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