The program of the new administration of the World Zionist Organization was outlined here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Zionist Organization and chairman of its executive, in his first press conference since the end of the 24th World Zionist Congress.
Among the major tasks facing the executive, Dr. Goldmann said, was preparing machinery for accepting non-Zionists in the Jewish Agency to help work with Israel and for accepting unaffiliated. Zionists into territorial Zionist federations to be established in accordance with Congress resolutions. The executive will prepare by autumn specific proposals for inviting non-Zionists on to the Jewish Agency executive.
The executive will work for closer cooperation with the Israel Government in the work of immigration, absorption and settlement and plans to increase the number of members of the Agency-Government “coordinating council” for these activities. It will also attempt to double immigration from North Africa, he said, adding that S. Z. Shragai and Dr. Giora Josephthal, Agency executive members, have already gone to Paris to prepare for this increased immigration.
The executive will also lay stress on attracting middle class immigrants from Western countries, Dr. Goldmann said. In addition, the executive will face a new task–establishing ties with Eastern European Jewry. He said there seemed to be a new turn in Soviet diplomacy, pointing to the release of Mordecai Oren and the permission granted American rabbis to visit the USSR, as examples. “We must be on the alert” to turn such developments toward improvement of ties with Eastern European Jews, he said.
One special task of the new executive, he underscored, is improving its public relations, particularly on Arab-Jewish relations. “It is a difficult job,” he said, “but it is urgent and we must start it now.”
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.
