A memorandum between the Israel Government and the Jewish National Fund, establishing the rights of each party with regard to land authority in Israel, was signed here today. Finance Minister Levi Eshkol signed on behalf of the Israel Government and Dr. A. Granott, president of the J. N. F. signed on behalf of his organization.
The signing of the covenant followed the approval last week by the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, of the Land Authority Bill under which all agricultural land, including J. N. F. land, will be administered by the Ministry of Agriculture. On the other hand, all soil improvement and afforestration in the country, including that of government land, will be carried out by the Jewish National Fund.
The Land Authority was devised to do away with the duplication effort in the domains of soil improvement and afforestration in Israel. Until now this type of work had been done by both, the Israel State Agricultural Department and the Jewish National Fund.
(In New York, Albert Schiff, president of the Jewish National Fund of America, hailed the establishment of the Land Authority as “the beginning of a new chapter not only in the history of the J. N. F., but also in the annals of the upbuilding of the Jewish State which stands to benefit much from a more efficient system of land reclamation and land development.”
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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.