A peace between opposing factions that left neither “victor nor victim” and brought with it sweeping administrative reforms was effected today at the thirty-ninth annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America, permitting the 325 delegates to proceed with consideration of vital administrative problems.
Unanimous election of Dr. Stephen S. Wise as president was assured when the convention swept aside all personal and group differences in the interests of a united Zionism and, in a session packed with drama and emotion, this afternoon unanimously adopted the agreement formulated by a “peace committee” of seven Zionist leaders which had been previously approved in caucuses of both groups.
By the terms of the agreement, Dr. Wise will become president, Mr. Rothenberg will become chairman of the administrative committee — a newly created post commanding authority — and reforms long sought by Mr. Rothenberg within the organization will be adopted.
Presenting the report of the peace committee, Dr. Israel Goldstein, its chairman, said:
“Meeting in an hour of grave anxiety for the future of the Jewish national home, this convention affirms its inflexible determination to muster its maximum resources for the safeguarding of that future and rededicates itself to the task which needs to be done.”
Paying tribute to Mr. Rothenberg’s “energetic, far-sighted administration,” the report declared that his labors during the four years in office enabled the Z.O.A. to successfully weather a difficult period. It expressed the delegates’ gratification that Dr. Wise was willing to serve as president and Mr. Rothenberg as chairman of the administrative committee and voiced confidence that under their leadership, “by virtue of their manifold gifts and rich record of Zionist spirit and service, the Z.O.A. will go forward with maximum strength.”
The mention of the leaders’ names evoked three-minute ovations. The delegates stood to sing the Hatikvah.
After Dr. Goldstein had moved adoption of the report, seconding speeches were made by Mr. Lipsky and Mr. Rothenberg in which both expressed gratification at the satisfactory solution of the difficulties. In concluding, Mr. Rothenberg emphasized that “the peace embodied in the document must be continued after the convention closes.”
Earlier, after the caucus meetings, he urged upon his followers that “the time has come to lay aside passion and heat in the interests of Zionism as a whole” and voiced hope that “you will accept this agreement and that tomorrow will begin a new chapter in the Zionist movement.”
REPORT DIVIDED INTO 3 SECTIONS
The report is divided into three sections:
A- Proposing Dr. Wise as president and Mr. Rothenberg as chairman of the administrative committee, which is to administer the affairs and establish the policies of the organization between conventions.
B- Providing for the drawing up by a non-partisan body comprising three Rothenberg supporters, three Wise adherents and three members of the “peace committee,” of a list of nominations for the executive committee, the administrative committee and the national council for submission to and approval by the nominations committee.
C- Administrative reforms, which are divided into three parts:
1- Fixing the presidential term at two years “in consonance with the present effort to bring into service all those who can and will serve.
2- The secretary or secretaries of the Z.O.A. are to be selected by the administrative committee “in order to create an administrative staff which shall be able to function with the utmost efficiency.”
3- No staff members will be eligible for membership in the executive or administrative committees of the Z.O.A. or of the allied fund-raising institutions “to enable the staff of the Z.O.A. to concentrate on its tasks.”
CONSIDER REGIONAL PLAN
After the presidential issue had been disposed of, the convention proceeded to a discussion of the plan for regional direction of Zionist affairs.
Dr. Samuel Margoshes declared that Zionism was being weakened by “excessive New York-ization” He suggested that the administrative committee hold sessions in different sections of the country in order to bring the country generally into more intimate touch with Zionist problems. His recommendations were referred to the organization committee.
Major Henry Proctor, member of the British Parliament, declared in an address that the great danger to Zionism was not on the British or the Palestine front but on the American front.
“The Arabs will not succeed in London or in Palestine, but there is danger they will succeed in weakening the morale of the American Zionists,” he said.
He declared that Great British was wholeheartedly behind the Zionist effort in Palestine, stressing that never before had he seen such unanimity in Parliament as during the recent debate on the Palestine situation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
