Israel Government Issues Independence Day Proclamation; Emphasizes Current Difficulties

The Government of Israel today issued an Independence Day proclamation on the occasion of the second anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, which will be celebrated on Sunday. The proclamation reviews the achievements of the Jewish state as well as the difficulties which it now faces. It reads:

“A year of war, heroism and victory during which the young Israel Defense Army withstood and overcame the armies of the Arab states–such was our first year of freedom. In the second year we were faced with the first phase of the realization of the ingathering of the exiles and the building and development of enterprises on a scale and at a rate far greater than anything we had previously experienced since the beginning of our resettlement 75 years ago. Nearly 400,000 immigrants have arrived in Israel since the establishment of the state.

“In the past year, the last Jew stepped out of the Nazi hell camps and the majority of Jewish refugees from the displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria and Italy were absorbed in the homeland. The remnants of the Dispersion in some European countries where our people were threatened with national extinction have been liquidated. The most ancient, oppressed of the diasporas in the Arab world, Yemen, is in the process of liquidation.

“More than 130 new settlements were established this year throughout the length and breadth of the state. More than 30,000 immigrants from many countries roothed themmselves in the soil in various forms of agricultural settlements. An additional 50,000 children entered educational institutions in the state. More than 25,000 housing units for immigrants were built in all parts of the country.

“Thuring the year, energetic measures were taken for strengthening our security and our defferense forces; for the development of the state’s democratic institutions and the realization of civic equality without discrimination against community or race; for the continual reduction of the cost of living; expansion of markets; incressed labor proficiency; improvements in the quality of our products; full employment; imcreased industrial production; development of workshops and handicrafts; ma## of are appropriate standard of living.

“Israel was accepted by the United Nations organization during the year as a sovereign state with equal rights and duties in the family of nations; in the concert of mations Israel’s independent voice was heard for the first time in our history speaking for the safeguarding of peace and the extension of justice throughout the world.

“Ho##, the road ahead is still long and hard. Our enemies and opponents continue to threaten us, our very existence, our independence and the borders of our states. The fa## of world peace still hangs in the balance. The great majority of our people are still on foreign soil, many of them subject to racial hatred and spirit## exti##. Ninety thousand immigrants still live in camps in the homeland itself, not yet integrated into the framework of the productivity and national economy of our state.

“Our liberated homeland remains largely barren and wasteland, our national economy unstable, the volume of our imports greatly outweighing exports, and we are department on foreign currency products. We are still being weakened and divided by tende## of lawlessness and division, fruits of dispersion and lack of independence.

“##t the toil of three pioneering generations was not in vain and we are privileged to withness the beginnings of deliverance. Let us rejoice in our festival of independence and let us gather our strength to realize fully and completely the vision of our deliverance.”