Dulzin Hopeful That Zoa-az Rift Can Be Healed in Near Future

Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization, met this weekend with Herman L. Weisman, president of the Zionist Organization of America, and with Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation, individually and then together in an effort to heal the rift between the two groups. “I am very hopeful that a definite agreement will be worked out in the near future tending toward a settlement of the controversy between the ZOA and the AZF,” Dulzin said today, “which led to the withdrawal of the ZOA from the AZF.”

On Feb. 20, 1972, the ZOA National Executive Committee adopted a resolution terminating the ZOA’s association with the AZF because it was “committed” to conducting “a wide spectrum of Zionist activities” which “compete with, disrupt and supplant” important ongoing Zionist activities traditionally conducted by the ZOA. The NEC confirmed, however, its readiness to “cooperate with and participate in the coordination of Zionist efforts”–as long as the independence and individuality of its own programs are not prejudiced.

PLEASED WITH UJA CAMPAIGN

Dulzin, who is also acting chairman of the Jewish Agency, reported that he met Friday with the leadership of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds and told the gathering that he was very pleased with the expected increased funds for the 1973/74 United Jewish Appeal campaign. The main problem of the Jewish Agency at present, he told the CJF leaders, is that although the 1973 campaign is more successful than that conducted in 1967 at the time of the Six-Day War, there is a shortage of cash payments.

He said the urgency of converting pledges into cash payments is necessitated by the fact that last month 2700 Soviet Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel compared to 2000 in July. He expressed belief that the total number of Soviet Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union to Israel in 1973 will be 30,000.