Homeless Jews are now entering the new state of Israel at the rate of 15,000 a month and before the end of 1948 the total number of immigrants to Palestine will exceed 120,000, Mrs. Goldie Meirson, Administrator of the Jewish section of Jerusalem and member of the Provisional Council of Government, told tie emergency national conference of the $250,000,000 United Jewish Appeal today.
Outlining plans for the greatest resettlement program in the history of the Jewish people, Mrs. Meirson called upon 500 Jewish leaders, assembled at the Astor Hotel, for financial support to enable Israel to receive and settle the large number of new immigrants. She reported that the facilities of the Tel Aviv port are being expanded to accommodate the many ships that will be required for this mass transfer of refugees.
She also called for funds to make possible the establishment of 40 new agricultural settlements in the north and south of the new state to speed the absorption of the record number of new arrivals. She declared that the 25,000 Jewish refugees now on Cyprus would be transferred to Palestine within the next two months. American Jews “hold the key to the immigration program in Israel,” she emphasized.
As chief Jewish executive in Jerusalem, Mrs. Meirson, who arrived in this Country by plane four days ago, deplored the battle for the city. She charged the British Government with “deliberately seeking to destroy the Jewish state of Israel” through military aid to the Arab states. “Great Britain is so bitter in her determination to frustrate the Jewish plans for statehood, that she is prepared to sacrifice the Holy Places and bring about the destruction of Jerusalem,” she said.
Mrs. Meirson pointed out that the Jews in Israel were confronted with three enormous tasks that must be carried on simultaneously. She listed these as follows: “1. We must build a new nation; 2. We must fight a war for survival and freedom and defense of our new state; and 3. We must initiate the greatest immigration and resettlement program in the history of the Jewish people.”
MORALE OF DP’S AT HIGHEST POINT SINCE V-E DAY, SCHWARTZ REPORTS
The establishment of Israel plus the “inspiring action” of President Truman in extending United States recognition to the Jewish state have raised the morale of Europe’s 250,000 Jewish DP’s to the highest point since V-E Day, Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, European chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee reported to the conference. “For the Jews in the DP camps,” Dr. Schwartz said, “President Truman’s step represented a new birth of freedom, en act of deliverance which will rank in their memories with unforgettable days of the liberation of May, 1945, when United States tanks unbelievably appeared to smash down the barbed wire of the Nazi concentration camps holding them, and deliver them from death.”
Dr. Schwartz, who flew to the United States several days ago from his European headquarters to address the United Jewish Appeal conference, predicted that the year 1948 would see the beginning of a large-scale exodus from Germany and other DP areas. Is added that the Jewish DP’s are ready to leave Europe and go to Israel immediately and that the evacuation of the 25,000 Jews detained on Cyprus would be completed not later than August 1.” He warned that as a result of the establishment of the Jewish state, the problems of the 300,000 Jews living under Moslem rule from Morocco to Yemen have greatly increased.
Praising the “bold leadership” of the United States in pressing the Security Council of the United Nations for adoption of a resolution condemning the Arab invasion of Israel as a threat to world peace, Major Aubrey S. Eban, the Jewish Republic’s representative to the U.N. today demanded prompt world action to bring an immediate and “to Arab aggression which imperils world peace.”
Major Eban predicted that the Arab armies would reject the Security Council’s plea to cease fire by noon tomorrow (Monday) end warned that the United Nations would then be faced with “not merely a crucial but perhaps a mortal occasion.” Even if the United Nations fail to take action to halt the invasion of Israel by four Arab nations, be said, it is the duty of all peace-loving nations to provide the new Jewish state with the “moral support and material equipment” to repel the attackers.
U.J.A. TO RAISE AN ADDITIONAL $100,000,000 BY AUGUST 1
The conference adopted a resolution urging Jewish communities throughout the country to make a “supreme effort” to provide the $250,000,000 United Jewish Appeal drive with $100,000,000 in cash by August 1. This would be in addition to the $50,000,000 in cash already contributed this year. A second resolution pledged “utmost backing” to the beleaguered people of Israel, while a third praised President Truman for extending recognition to Israel and urging the lifting of the arms embargo.
Dr. Israel Goldstein, chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, reported that sore than 530,000 Jews from Europe and other parts of the world found new homes in Palestine since the issuance of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. He declared that the establishment of Israel represents the greatest challenge to the generosity and leadership of American Jewry.
Pointing out that “the gates of Israel are now wide open,” Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, national chairman of the U.J.A., declared in the closing address of the conference that the Jews of America, acting through ‘the U.J.A, campaign, “must provide the bridge from Cyprus to Israel and from the D.P. centers in Germany, Austria and Italy.” A large portion of the 1,500,000 Jews left in Europe must emigrate and for the majority of them “Israel represents the yearned-for answer to their hopes and prayers,” he said.
William Rosenwald, U.J.A. national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, declared that “the time has come for rededication on a scale that will measure up to the historic moment that our generation has been privileged to witness.”The events in Palestine confront us with an opportunity and a grave responsibility. It is up to us to determine what use shall be made of the opportunity and how well we shall meet the responsibility.”
Addressing the opening session yesterday, Henry Morgenthau Jr., general chairman, called on American Jews to help the Jews of Israel “turn back the enemies attacking its settlements and its cities.” The struggle in which the citizens of Israel are engaged is not inspired by dreams of conquest and domination over others but by their desire to live peacefully and in harmony with their neighbors, Edward M.M. Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, and a chairman of the Greater New York U.J.A., declared.
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.
