Some 6,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 who are now living in immigrant work villages will be sheltered during the winter rainy season in special camps provided by the army, Jewish Agency officials George Josephthal and Yehuda Braginsky told a press conference here today.
The camps are normally used by teen-age members of Gadna, semi-military youth battalions. Youth Aliyah institutions and collective settlements will take in a portion of this age group. Children under the age of six, who cannot be separated from their parents, will be moved with them to weatherproof structures for the winter, the Agency officials disclosed. They said that there are some 5,000 children in this pre-school age group.
The officials estimated that of the 17,000 families now living in tents at least 8,000 would be moved to more weatherproof homes before December 1. Owing to a shortage of foreign currency 25,000 prefabricated houses needed this winter for the immigrants could not be purchased, they said, adding that of those that had been ordered only a portion had arrived in Israel.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
