Seventeen families from Dimnat, Morocco, numbering 88 persons in all, who arrived in Israel Friday, refused to proceed immediately to their new settlements and demanded instead, that they be transferred to the Shaar Haaliya camp. Their refusal was an outgrowth of competition between Mapai and Hapoel Hamizrachi with respect to the immigrants’ affiliation.
Jewish Agency circles termed the competition a great danger, and noted that continuation of such disputes might jeopardize all immigration and absorption arrangements. Moreover, it was noted that the immigrants themselves had agreed to the transfer to new settlements while they were still in Morocco and their refusal was the result of incitement by local elements in Haifa or Marseilles. The transfer of the immigrants to the Shaar Haaliya camp would have renewed the waiting period in transition camps, a situation which the Jewish Agency has successfully avoided in recent months by having all immigrants proceed directly from the ship to settlements prepared for their arrival.
After consultations, the Agency decided to call police. The immigrants then agreed to be transferred to Masua, in the Lachish area. Meanwhile, it was disclosed that 32 other families from Dimnat, who were placed in the Shaar Haliya camp following an earlier Mapai-Hapoel Hamizrachi dispute, will be sent to new settlements in the Lachish area today, after an agreement was reached as a result of Jewish Agency intervention.
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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.
