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asset. By hiring Palestinians, who were believed to be bilingual in Ara-
bic and English and had job skills that Saudis lacked, Palestinian Arabs
could be a bridge between the Americans and Saudis in fostering the
training and development of Saudis.
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were college graduates in the U.K. Aramco was seeking craftsmen. This
proved complicated. There were not many who were skilled craftsmen.
Most refugees were unskilled laborers and farmers those who were
skilled or educated tended to have emigrated elsewhere or to have (by
having family connections or money payments) secured citizenship in
other, nearby countries.
The Saudi government required applicants for residence permits
to state their religion. Unfortunately for our recruiting, craftsmen tended
to be at least 20 percent Christian. The Saudis wanted Christians limited
to 10 percent. The problem was resolved in a typical Middle Eastern
fashion the 10 percent limit was retained, but Aramco was allowed to
hire more than 10 percent by borrowing against future hires.
Aramco found that, while Christians comprised perhaps 5 per-
cent of the Palestinian population, Christians had a far better record
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philosophy Do it by Christians or As God wills by Muslims ac-
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I was sent to Beirut, Lebanon to determine prevailing wages for
craft and clerical employees and to compare such wages to those being
paid Saudis in Aramco to assure that Aramco wages would be attractive
to the Palestinians. I surveyed what few companies in Beirut had em-
ployees in similar occupations.
We also drove north to Tripoli, Lebanon, which was the termi-
nus of oil pipelines from Iraq. We went by car and it was fascinating to
see more of the Lebanese countryside. The mountains rose very steeply
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people skied in the tops of the mountains. On the other hand, on the
narrow coastal strip we drove past banana plantations. The Lebanese
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