The government and the Jewish Agency agreed this week to end their long standing disputes over the administration of Project Renewal and to cooperate in the future for its successful implementation. The meeting Monday was attended by Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, and David Levy, Deputy Premier for Social Affairs and their aides.
It followed bitter criticism in the Cabinet of the way the Agency was handling the massive project to rehabilitate disadvantaged neighborhoods which is financed jointly by Israel and overseas Jewry. Some ministers complained the Agency was not providing promised funds. The Agency angrily rejected the critics and said funds were ready and available for allocation to specific projects.
The meeting resulted in a series of undertakings. An Agency spokesman said that henceforth there would be a “coordinated policy” with the government; joint decisions on specific implementation; efforts to weed out needless duplication; and joint supervision over both government and Agency budgets for Project Renewal.
Dulzin said he was satisfied with the housing work in a number of neighborhoods and said he hoped the agreement for top level coordination would lead to swifter progress in the future. In his speech at the
opening of the Knesset’s winter session last week Premier Menachem Begin urged the government and the opposition to bury party politics and work for Project Renewal as a national undertaking.
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