Forty Jews who are being held on Cyprus by the British because they are of military age have become insane due to the knowledge that they cannot hope to leave their island prison and join their families, Eliahu Dobkin, Jewish Agency immigration official, today told a press conference. He also announced that the Agency plans to renew its protests to the British against the continued detention of thousands of refugees of military age.
He revealed that a similar tragedy is in the making in Aden, British protectorate on the Red Sea, where 3,000 Yemenite Jews, many of whom are victims of an Arab program last year, are awaiting emigration facilities to take them to Israel. However, the British are withholding exit visas from 850 men of military age on the same excuse that their entrance into Israel would violate the provisions of the U.N. truce.
Dobkin announced that the Agency will this week sign contracts for the immediate construction of 3,000 housing units — at a cost of $5,000,000 — to accommodate immigrants. However, 30,000 units are urgently needed, the immigration official stressed. The new homes will be built in settlements where the labor shortage is most acute, he said, adding that employment is guaranteed to every immigrant who can be brought to the country.
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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.
