Israeli Premier Outlines Four-year Plan for Absorption of 750,000 Immigrants

A government four-year plan envisaging the arrival of 750,000 immigrants, with at least 100,000 of them settling on the land, was announced by Premier David Ben Gurion at the seventh congress of the Histadrut Agricultural Workers Union which opened here last night.

“Five hundred new settlements will be established for the new immigrants on 3,000,000 dunams of land,” Mr. Ben Gurion said. “With planned, intensified agriculture designed to meet the Yishuv’s requirements, as well as provide a margin for export, the government will extend all necessary help to Israel’s farmers,” he said.

Addressing more than 300 delegates representing the Mapai, Mapam, General Zionists, Hapoel Hamizrachi and Communist parties, the Israeli Premier reviewed the accomplishments of the first four months of the elected government. He revealed that the land area of Israel increased “peacefully by several million dunams.” Asserting that construction costs were lowered during the period, Mr. Ben Gurion stated that 250,000 housing units are currently being erected, while the new state’s industrial development was enhanced through private capital investment from both Jewish and non-Jewish sources overseas.

Touching on the high cost of living, the Israeli Premier cited the successful struggle being waged to resolve this problem. He also pointed up improved communications in the Jewish state, and predicted that the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway would soon be reopened. Foundations were also laid for a system of compulsory free education for both Jewish and Arab children in Israel, he added.

“The government plans to build the largest possible Yishuv with a very high standard of living, to attract equally Jews from rich and poor countries,” Mr. Ben Gurion declared. “The country’s first defense line will be based not on military forces, but on the border settlements,” he emphasized. Mr. Ben Gurion also reviewed plans for development of the Negev as an agricultural area, with the southern region–fronting on the Gulf of Aqaba–becoming a center for fishing and shipping activity.

Mr. Ben Gurion also revealed that the government will soon submit to the Knesset a proposal to give agricultural training to Israeli youths which, up to a given age, would be credited as part of their military service.

ISRAEL WILL HAVE 2,000,000 POPULATION WITHIN FOUR YEARS. EXPERT PREDICTS

Gen. L. Gvati-Halperin, director-general of the Ministry of Agriculture, told the convention that Israel’s population in the next four years will reach 2,000,000 and that on this basis 200,000 persons, or roughly 60,000 families, will be required to engage in agricultural pursuits.

Thirty-five thousand families will be settled in 350 settlements in northern Israel while 10,000 family units will make their homes in 150 colonies in the northern Negev, he said. Approximately 5,000 families will take up residence in areas adjacent to large, established settlements while the remaining 10,000 family groups will be assigned to farms throughout the country.

The government’s plan for the erection of 350 new settlements in the northern sector of the Jewish state provides for productivization of “conquered, good, arable land that does not require capital investment,” Gen. Gvati stated. On the other hand, plans for the northern Negev settlement necessitate establishment of an irrigation system to supply 100,000,000 cubic meters of water annually for some 100,000 dunams of land. He estimated the cost of realizing the government’s four-year agricultural program at approximately $276,000,000.

Abraham Harzfeld, Israel’s leading colonization and agricultural expert, told the delegates that 347 agricultural settlements are “now flourishing in Israel” while 18 youth agricultural institutions, attended by 3,000 students, are also in existence. He estimated the Jewish state’s present agricultural population at 73,000. Since the proclamation of Israeli statehood, 107 colonies were founded, with 20 of these set up in the Negev, he reported.