Eliezer Kaplan Arrives; to Seek Political Aid Here for Zionists

A $5,000,000 United Palestine Appeal quota for 1937 was announced today by Eliezer Kaplan, treasurer of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, who arrived from the Holy Land on the Berengaria to address the National Conference for Palestine in Washington this week-end and consult with Zionist leaders here.

Will begin immediately, he said, he will seek economic and political help in America in view of the “grim danger” facing the Yishub. He declined to indicate what form the “political cooperation” would take until he had conferred with Zionist leaders.

Declaring that “the struggle is not yet ended,” Mr. Kaplan predicted that Arab-Jewish relations would continue strained in the near future. He expressed confidence that “American Jewry will fulfill the duty devolving upon it in the historic trial now facing the Jewish people.”

Rabbi Wolf Gold, president of the World Mizrachi Organization, also arrived in the interests of the United Palestine Appeal. He described the growth of Mizrachi in Palestine and expressed confidence that Britain would not make the Palestine mandate “a scrap of paper.” He was accompanied by Moshe Shapiro, deputy member of the Zionist Executive.

Mr. Kaplan, referred to in a U.P.A. release as the Jewish “finance minister,” was accompanied by his wife, Dr. Elisheva Kaplan, who is connected with the administration of the Workers’ Sick Fund in Palestine. He said his stay here would be indefinite but brief. It is his first visit to the United States.

PROCEEDS OF DRIVE TO BE SPLIT 3 WAYS

The $5,000,000 drive, which he said will be launched in Washington this week-end, will be part of the $10,000,000 sought throughout the world. The proceeds will be divided equally among the Jewish National Fund, the Palestine Foundation Fund and the Emergency Fund for Palestine. He declared that while the Continental countries had filled their-quotas in the emergency drive and the British Empire would fill it in the coming weeks, American Jewry, “the largest and strongest body, has not yet begun a campaign except for isolated donations.”

Mr. Kaplan asserted that while the Jewish Agency estimated it would receive £270,000 this year for general purposes — a substantial increase over last year’s income — the increased financial burdens imposed on it as a result of the recent disorders made it urgently necessary to obtain new funds.

Besides the increased U.P.A. quota, another form of economic aid to be sought here, Mr. Kaplan said, will be expansion of American investments in Palestine, both through private and public companies.

Asked about the possibilities of new disturbances in Palestine, he countered by saying the Government had learned a great deal during the last disorders and that it was taking measures to prevent a new outbreak. While expressing a belief in ultimate amity between Arabs and Jews, he was pessimistic about the near future.

“The past year,” Mr. Kaplan said, “was a heavy trial for the Yishub, which lived through months of disturbance, destruction, political struggle and bloodshed, followed thereafter by the Royal Commission. This, too, was a chapter of stern political trial. But the Yishuv and the Zionist movement surmounted these experiences.”

Describing the spiritual and economic strength of the Palestine Jews in the face of the disorders, he warned that “the struggle is not yet ended” and said:

“To repulse the dangers it is imperative that we reinforce our positions: extend building and immigration, increase colonization, accelerate land redemption. The present is a testing time. Only if world Jewry is massed behind us rampart-like will we surmount the obstacles and triumph.

“Foremost of our needs, however, are the united forces of American Jewry which has always borne an overwhelming portion of the burden of political and economic responsibility for our undertaking.”

Both Mr. Kaplan and Rabbi Gold said that it was impossible to predict what the decisions of the Royal Commission would be. Rabbi Gold, said, however, that the Arabs had not made a good impression because their testimony had taken on the aspect of a demonstration.

Rabbi Gold, who left the United States 18 months ago to settle in Jerusalem, expressed the opinion that Great Britain would not surrender to Arab demands because such a step would lower its prestige.

Describing the growth of Mizrachi, he said 10,000 pupils were now attending its 75 schools, including three high schools, two teachers’ colleges and a trade school. High Commissioner Wauchope recently contributed £2,000 for a new building for the trade school, he declared.