Golda Meir Proposes New All-israeli Body to Handle Immigration, Absorption

Mrs. Golda Meir, secretary-general of the new Israel Labor Party, proposed here today the creation of a new body to be run exclusively by Israelis which would incorporate the aliyah (immigration) and absorption functions of the Israel Government and the Jewish Agency. Mrs. Meir, addressing the consultative assembly of the World Zionist Organization, said such a new body made sense because the present Zionist leadership can only tell Jews abroad “go there” whereas Israelis can say “come here” and “this may make all the difference” with regard to aliyah.

Mrs. Meir, herself a veteran of the Zionist movement and the former Foreign Minister of Israel, took a dim view of the forthcoming World Zionist Congress next June as an event that will in any way affect the problems of aliyah. Nothing has changed in the field of immigration despite the fact that almost a year has elapsed since last June’s war, she said, so why should anyone believe there will be changes after next June.

The question of immigration – how to stimulate and organize it, especially from the affluent countries of the Western world – has dominated the Zionist parley since it opened here Sunday night. One proposal, supported by many delegates and opposed by many, was for the creation of an elite body of Zionists who would personally commit themselves to aliyah. The idea was favored at last night’s session by Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of Keren Hayesod, and others. But Arieh Handler, president of the Mizrachi Organization of Great Britain, said that the problem of aliyah was not organization but individual and depended on increased educational activities.

Two representatives of Israel’s Liberal party – Minister without portfolio Yosef Saphir and J. Serlin – stressed that Israel’s economy must be geared to the absorption of immigrants before large scale aliyah can be encouraged. Mr. Serlin thought however, that the Zionist movement was “too weak” to undertake such a task.

Mrs. Rose Halprin, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive in New York, speaking today, disagreed with “those who claim that if we fail to achieve the goal of aliyah, the Zionist movement has no raison d’etre. We are faced with a maze of problems that we must solve in addition to aliyah, although that is the foremost problem,” she said. Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the American Zionist Council, suggested that the Zionist program be revised to lay most stress on aliyah and education.