The Zionist Actions Committee decided last night to accept the resignations of Dr. Abba Hillel Silver and Dr. Emenuel Neumann as members of the Jewish Agency executive, following the refusal of the two American Zionist leaders to withdraw their resignations.
On recommendation of the Confederation of General Zionists, of which both men ere members, the Actions Committee unanimously elected Itzhak Gruenbaum, former Minister of Interior in the Provisional Government, to one of the vacant posts, leaving the second unfilled for the present.
Dr. Israel Goldstein told the Committee that he deeply regretted the final resignation of Dr. Silver and Dr. Neumann, who “rendered tremendous services to the Zionist cause both before and after the United Nations decision of Nov. 29, I947, to set up a Jewish state in Palestine,” He said, however, that the Confederation of General Zionists felt that the executive posts must be filled.
Earlier, the Actions Committee voted a budget of 51,300,000 pounds ($153,900,-000) for the next six months and urged the swiftest possible establishment of a series of agricultural settlements, particularly in the Jerusalem area. It noted that the settlements established in the Jerusalem-coastal plain corridor provided an “indestructible link” ‘between the Holy City and the rest of Israel.
The Actions Committee also urged expansion of agricultural settlement in the Negev, and a speeding up of housing construction. It called on the Israeli Government to introduce compulsory war damage insurance and to establish an agricultural bank. Out of its budget, the Actions Committee allocated 1,250,000 pounds ($3,750,000) for the development of Jerusalem and asked the government to take special measures to insure the city’s revival.
A special resolution adopted by the Actions Committee urged the government to facilitate private investment in Israel and create conditions to attract private capital and promote industry. In a speech closing the session, Josef Sprinzak, speaker of Knesset, thanked the 37 nations which voted for Israel’s admission to the United Nations and expressed the hope that those who had abstained or opposed her would soon change their minds.
The Jewish Agency executive today unanimously elected Dr. Nahum Goldmann as chairman of the Agency’s American section. Dr. Goldmann has been serving as acting elected Haim Greeberg directors of its cultural and educational department, which will aim to promote the Hebrew language and Hebrew culture.
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.
