Histadruth Will Mobilize 16,000 More Members for Military Service

A resolution to mobilize 16,000 more Histadruth members for the British forces and the internal defense units in Palestine was adopted here this week at the closing session of the forty-seventh Histadruth conference, which devoted the major part of its deliberations to issues revolving about the war and the security of the country.

The resolution on enlistment asked that 10,000 more members join the armed forces, 5,000 go into the police units, which now have a military status, and 1,000 form a kernel for the Jewish infantry battalions which are to be formed as part of the new Palestine Regiment.

Other resolutions adopted by the delegates demanded an increase in the allowances for soldiers and their families in view of higher living costs; asked adequate sanitary, technical and financial conditions for workers engaged in the war effort; protested the now manpower law, which places all workers under the control of the Palestine Administration and rejected the Jewish Agency’s agreement with the New Zionist Organization.

Moshe Shertok, chief of the political department of the Jewish Agency, addressing the conference, expressed regret over the fact that the Colonial Office had failed to confer with the Agency prior to announcing the formation of the now Palestine Regiment. Eliezer Kaplan, Agency treasurer, revealed that the Palestine Government is preparing a plan for the development of the country within the framework of the economic development of the entire Middle East. Discussing colonization and allied activities, several speakers disclosed that the Zionist Organization has invested about $9,000,000 in Palestine since the beginning of the war.