A new attempt to break the bottleneck in the migration of Jews from Europe to Israel is being made in Italy by the Joint Distribution Committee, the International Refugoe Organization and other agencies which are involved in aiding Israel-bound DP’s and refugees.
The port of Bari is being converted into the major port of embarkation for the immigrants from Europe. Previously, they were all routed across Western Europe to the southern French port of Marseilles, where many of them waited weeks and months for shipping space. The Jews who are directed to the Trani reception center, near Bari, will have to wait a shorter time because the voyage to Haifa is shorter–three days–and the same number of vessels will be able to complete many more round trips than if they had to continue on to Marseilles.
The first group of 500 DP’s who arrived at Trani last Friday has already been processed and is scheduled to sail from Bari today. The camp has a top capacity of 3,000 persons and the J.D.C. expects between 4,000 and 8,000 refugees to sail from Bari each month. Costs of maintenance, medical care, food and transportation are being borne by the J.D.C., but the I.R.O. has agreed to pay for part of the expenses.
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