Arabs living in the new Jewish state in Palestine will not become “displaced persona,” but will be “better off” than anywhere else in the Middle East, Elias Epstein, head of the Jerusalem office of the Jewish Rational Fund, declared here today at the closing session of a three-day emergency conference of Hadassah at the Park Central Hotel.
“The creation of a Jewish State does not automatically put Jews in possession of all the land within their territory.” Mr. Epstein warned Hadassah leaders. “We will buy every foot of soil we need from its rightful owners. Arabs need not be dispossessed. Because of intensified agriculture, modern machinery and methods, it will be possible for a Palestinian family–whether Arab or Jew–to make a better living on nine acres of land in Palestine in the new Jewish state, than it was on thirty-seven acres several decades ago.
Concluding their conference, Hadassah leaders voted to seek a 50 percent increase in their present land reclamation and reforestation goal of $650,000. A decision to launch an intensified nationwide emergency campaign to apprize the American public of the “dire need” among the Jews of Palestine for medical aid, surgical and other supplies drugs, funds with which to maintain and educate refugee children coming from Cyprus, and to feed and provide recreation for the present child population of the country were also approved during the closing session.
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