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Israel Establishes One New Settlement Every Other Day

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The establishment of new settlements in Israel at the rate of one every other day is being maintained despite the critical lack of funds and despite the fact that the Jewish Agency is forced to borrow money in anticipation of funds from the United Jewish Appeal in the U.S. to keep up its present colonization tempo. Dr. George Josephthal, Jewish Agency treasurer, said here today.

Dr. Josephthal emphasized that there are three principal objectives to this accelerated colonization program: 1. Combating unemployment; 2. Filling gaps in the chain of border settlements needed for security reasons; 3. Exploitation of large water resources that have become a available through the new Yarkon-Negev pipeline, nearing completion.

The Agency official said that Israel has now reached a turning point in its development. He emphasized that the shortage of vegetables for home consumption has been completely eliminated. He pointed out that emphasis is now being laid on industrial crops, and noted that this new policy requires twice the irrigated area of other crops, as well as refrigeration facilities for potato and sugar alcohol.

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