The Jewish Agency’s demand that 1,000,000 Jews in liberated Europe be assisted to settle in Palestine after hostilities have ceased is not merely a dramatic slogan, but is based on a realistic survey of the country’s absorptive capacity and ability to provide employment and shelter for the immigrants, Eliczer Kaplan, Agency treasurer, told a press conference here today.
Mr. Kaplan, who arrived by air this week, said that his chief reasons for coming here at the present time were to strongthen the economic ties between Palestine and the United States so that Palestine may best utilize its potentialties for absorption of immigrants, to urge the American people to support the opening of Palestine to free immigration and to stimulate American Jewry’s response to the 1945 United Palestine Appeal drive for $35,300,000.
The Agency treasurer appealed to the governments of the United States, Great Britain, Russia and the other United Nations to facilitate the transfer to Palestine of 20,000 homeless Jewish orphans from Europe. Mr. Kaplan expressed the hope that the Allied nations would not only aid in securing the children’s entrance to Palestine, but would make financial contributions from inter-governmental sources toward this end.
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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.