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Britain, U.S. Must Support Jewish Homeland, Senator Pepper Tells JNF Conference

December 1, 1941
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Great Britain, the United States and the countries that have felt the “yoke of oppression” must when Hitlerism is defeated, extend their cooperation for the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, so that the “people who have been singled out and made the most wretched of all “may find a home, Senator Claude Pepper, member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Palestine “Land for Victory” conference held today under the auspices of the Jewish National Fund in the Hotel Roosevelt, here.

About 1,500 delegates of Jewish organizations, present at the meeting, approved the “Land for Victory” plan of the J.N.F., and unanimously voted for the adoption of a resolution in which American Jewry was called upon to make possible, during the year 1942, the acquisition of territory in Palestine comprising a minimum of 40,000 dunams, approximately 10,000 acres, as a measure “indispensable to the development and defense of the Jewish National Home, to the victory of the democratic cause in the present world conflict and to the triumph of the Zionist ideal.” The hope that Jewish Palestine will “become a Jewish Commonwealth that shall serve as a haven and a home for the disinherited, despoiled and homeless sons and daughters of the Jewish people,” was stressed in the resolution.

A special feature of the conference was the observance of the Jewish National Fund’s 40th anniversary. The achievements of the Fund to which many Jewish communities throughout the world and in the United States have contributed an amount totalling nearly $30,000,000, were recounted by Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the JNF, in the key note address. The Fund was instrumental in acquiring, and reclaiming, as national property, 560,000 drams of land upon which 157 colonies, constituting the backbone of Palestine’s agricultural economy, have been established. 67,000 farmers live in these agricultural settlements, he reported.

The pivotal role of Palestine as a solution for the problem of Jewish homelessness in the post-war period was emphasized in the addresses delivered by Pierre Van Passion, noted author and foreign correspondent, and Judge Louis E. Leventhal of Philadelphia, President of the Zionist Organization of America. A message from Dr. Chaim Weizmann, cabled from London, was read to the conference.

The evening session was dedicated to the memory of the late Menashem M. Ussishkin. Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Mrs. Dora Inselbuch, of Hadassah, Mrs. Israel Goldstein, David Wertheim. Leon Gellman, Mendel N. Fisher, the Fund’s Executive Director and Abraham H. Cohen, Chairman of the Fund’s 40th Anniversary Committee, were among the other speakers at the conference. The opening session was presided over by Mr. Louis Segal, Zionist labor leader.

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