The Jewish National Fund is now implementing a scheme to erect work villages through the recovery of 1,000,000 dunams of hilly land, on which 20,000 families of newly-arrived immigrants will be settled in the next four or five years, Joseph Weitz, J.N.F. director of lands and afforestation, declared here.
By October, he said, 36 work villages–including 19 in the strategic Jerusalem corridor and 17 in Galilee–will be completed, with accommodations for 4,080 immigrant families. Each resident-worker will receive a daily wage of approximately $4.00 and will be guaranteed 230 working days during the first year and a minimum of 800 working days in the subsequent four years. In addition, each resident of the work villages will receive agricultural training and “general assistance.”
The Jewish National Fund plan also provides for the planting of 4,000,000 trees this year at a total cost of $5,600,000, which will also cover the cost of reclaiming hilly country and the planting of saplings. Yemenite immigrants engaged in the J.N.F. afforestation program, it was reported, are displaying high skill in handling such heavy equipment as bulldozers and compressors and have already planted orchards which they tend with great care.
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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.
