About 50,000 Jews will soon join the Zionist movement in Argentina according to Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization Executive. He returned last weekend from a brief visit to Argentina on the occasion of the establishment of a new Zionist Federation there and the election of a new executive to the local Zionist organization.
Dulzin told the WZO Executive meeting here yesterday that the 50,000 new members would join the movement after the World Zionist Congress next year. He reported that for the first time the Zionist executive in Argentina included representatives of all factions. Membership is now on a personal basis, and not on an organizational basis, he said.
LARGE NUMBER OF OLIM EXPECTED
During his stay in Argentina, Dulzin attended a meeting of some 400 candidates for aliya to Israel. He said the number of such immigrants is expected to double next year, possibly reaching as many as 2,500 from Argentina.
He noted that key positions in the new Argentine Zionist Federation — the chairman, his deputy, the secretary general and the treasurer — would be held by persons who are not associated with political parties. The Federation is headed by Yaacov Pieterman, 51, an engineer.
Dulzin said that despite the grave economic crisis which threatens Jewish education in Argentina, the WZO would make every possible effort to assist the community to prevent students from dropping out of the local Jewish education system.
Dr. Eli Tavin, head of the WZO diaspora education and culture department, informed the Executive that a new teachers seminar will be established in Mexico shortly, in cooperation with a local university and universities in Israel.
Tavin said there were presently several study programs for teachers in Latin America with the assistance of Israeli lecturers. Most of the 2,000 teachers in Jewish schools in Latin America are Latin American-born.
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