A demand for free immigration of North African Jews into Israel was voiced here today at the fifth annual meeting of the Association of North African Immigrants. The delegates also insisted upon measures to effect immediate union of families some of whose members have reached Israel while the remainder are still in Moslem North Africa.
The conference also asked that the government provide jobs for 1,000 immigrants from North Africa who are out of work and housing for several thousand still in tents and other temporary quarters. The chairman of the association, Assaf Hassin, reported on measures taken by the group to discourage immigrants from returning to North Africa.
Gideon Raphael, member of the Israel delegation to the United Nations who recently returned to Israel, told the delegates that in a short time North Africa would become the most Important source of immigration for Israel. He expressed satisfaction that on a recent tour of North Africa he had discovered that a great number of the Jews there spoke Hebrew.
Moshe Kol, immigration official of the Jewish Agency, reported that 7,000,000 Israeli pounds had been earmarked for immigration, with 70 percent of the total set aside for immigration from the Oriental countries.
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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.