Dulzin Says Zionist Congress Should Be Postponed Until Jan. ’78

Leon Dulzin, treasurer of the Jewish Agency, said today that the 29th World Zionist Congress should be postponed until January, 1978 in order to avoid conflicting with the election campaign in Israel. He disagreed with Yosef Almogi, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, who said in Jerusalem earlier this week that the Congress should be held next summer, possibly in June.

Dulzin, who is president of the World Union of General Zionists, arrived here yesterday on a week-long speaking tour on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that if the Congress were to be held in June there is a great danger that Zionist issues would be pushed into the background because all the political parties in Israel use the Congress to promote their election campaigns. Dulzin, a leader of the Likud opposition, said that the Israeli representation to the Congress is based on the 1973 Knesset elections. He said it would be more representative to have it based on the composition of the new Knesset after the elections, scheduled for November, 1977.

The World Zionist Congress was to have convened in Jerusalem Jan. 17, 1977. It was postponed after the Congress Court ruled that elections must be held in all countries for Congress delegates. Dulzin will attend a meeting of the WZO Executive Plenary in London after leaving the U.S., at which a new date for the Congress will be discussed. The Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency will meet in London Nov. 29-30.