Persistent reports that immigration to Israel is to be restricted were denied today by Itzak Rephael, head of the immigration department of the Jewish Agency. At a press conference here, he stated that one of the reasons he was touring Europe was to increase the immigration rate to the Jewish state.
He said that the government intends, under its five-year plan, to increase the Israeli population to two million, as compared to the present one million. The Agency official asserted that of 11,00 Yugoslav Jews, 8,000 had departed for Israel, while of 38,000 Bulgarian Jews only some 4,000 will remain in that country. He explained that emigration from Rumania and Hungary had allowed but that the Agency expected an increase. He added that the present housing shortage in Israel would soon be overcome by a gigantic building project which would provide 40,000 apartments
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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.
