International Bond Conference in Israel to Map Plans for Immediate, Long-range Needs

Plans for dealing with Israel’s immediate and long-range economic problems will be considered at an international conference of Jewish leaders convened by Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir in Israel from August 13 through August 23. it was announced here today by the State of Israel Bonds. The conference delegates from the United States, Canada and other parts of the world will concentrate their deliberations on ways to expand and strengthen Israel’s economy in a time of deepening crisis and danger. The eleven-day conference will also be the occasion for the observance of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Israel Bond Organization, which since its inception has raised more than $1.5 billion for Israel’s economic development. Prime Minister Golda Meir and former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, two of the chief architects of the Israel Bond Drive, will have major roles in the conference which will also hear other foremost leaders in Israel’s public life. Mr. Ben-Gurion will be the principal speaker at the opening session on August 14, at which Samuel Rothberg, Conference Chairman, will preside and Abraham Feinberg, President of the Israel Bond Organization, will introduce the former Prime Minister. It was Mr. Ben-Gurion who convened the historic Jerusalem Conference of Jewish leaders in September, 1950, which initiated the flotation of Israel Bonds in the United States.

Among the national leaders of the Israel Bond Organization who will head the conference delegation are Louis H. Boyar, Chairman of the Board of Governors; Ira Guilden. National Chairman: Jack D. Weller, Secretary-Treasurer; Mrs. Jan Peerce, Chairman of the National Women’s Division, and Julian B. Venezky, National Chairman for Regions. On the final day of the conference, the delegates will meet at the seaport of Ashdod to participate in a ground-breaking ceremony which will officially mark the beginning of construction of a new oil refinery, which will be built with the aid of Israel Bond funds. The refinery will get its supply of oil from the recently completed 42-inch pipeline linking Elath on the Gulf of Aqaba with the industrial city of Ashkelon near the Mediterranean, which is just a few miles south of Ashdod. Plans call for an extension to be constructed from Ashkelon to Ashdod which will make the refinery a terminus of the pipeline, which is already in use. Tankers berthed at Elath are unloading oil which is being pumped to Ashkelon for trans-shipment to European markets as well as to Haifa and its refinery. The 163-mile pipeline, which cost a total of $136,000,000 and took eighteen months to complete, was constructed in part with Israel Bond allocations. It will carry about 20,000,000 tons of oil a year in its first stage, at a rate of 1,500 tons an hour. In a later stage, Israel hopes to increase the capacity to 60,000,000 tons annually.