The work of rescuing European refugees is being pressed, while Jewish upbuilding work in Palestine goes forward.
A Turkish steamship arrived today with 44 Jewish immigrants, most of them from Lithuania, who traveled via Soviet Russia. Among them was Zusman Segalovitch, famous Polish Jewish writer.
It was learned that the 50 immigration certificates authorized last week for Bulgaria had been distributed in time. Prominent persons who received them are already en routs to Palestine, as well as a group of 50 Jewish youths.
Meanwhile, Jewish National Fund activities in the 40th year of its existence and the first year of the new land regulations were summarized by Director A. Granovsky. He said 33,000 dunams of land had been acquired since the law had gone into effect and stressed that substantial opportunities for land purchase were still available.
Replying to criticism of purchasing land in view of the present inadequacy of funds for settlement, Dr. Granovsky emphasized the need of a land reserve. “The paramount importance of land must render it immune to influence of other fluctuating factors.” he said. “Furthermore, the JNF is now the sole purchaser of land; hence the terms are easier.”
A modest ceremony today marked the beginning of tre-planting in the Kirschner forest at Hanita. N. Kirschner, president of the South African Zionist Federation, and Menachem M. Ussishkin, president of the Jewish National Fund, planted the first trees and dedicated a marble plaque. The grove will soon be expanded into a “Liberty Forest” in honor of Jewish volunteers serving in the British forces.
A four-day meeting of the Mapai (Zionist labor party) council closed last night. It was devoted mainly to the problem of abolishing separate fractions with the party. Berl Katznelson, in a closing speech, called for stronger unity within the party, without which, he said, it was impossible to maintain the Jewish workers’ position in the framework of Zionism.
A conference of the Palestine Maritime League was held in Tel Aviv with 150 delegates attending. Bar Kochba Meirovitch, director of the Jewish Agency’s Maritime Department, and Kaplansky of the maritime school were among the speakers.
The Czechoslovak Jewish colony here is celebrating the 91st birthday of the late Thomas G. Masaryk, founder of the Czechoslovak Republic.
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.
