A new quarter billion dollar Land Development Program of the Jewish National Fund has been launched in Israel, Dr. Joseph P. Sternstein, incoming JNF national executive director, who has just returned from the World Conference in Jerusalem, reported at a press conference here today.
The JNF program for the conquest of Israel’s wastelands will have a time of duration of 20 years, Dr. Sternstein said. The $250,000,000 are to be collected in the entire free world. About 70 percent of this vast amount will be raised in the United States through JNF traditional collections and through the Foundation for the Jewish National Fund which receives bequests and assignments of insurance.
Dr. Sternstein reported that the impact of the massive JNF land development program is already being felt all over Israel, particularly in the fields of agriculture, employment and security. “Inasmuch as the Jewish National Fund has been officially designated by the Government of Israel as the exclusive instrument for land development, reclamation and afforestation throughout the entire territory of the State, its giant program will be a major factor in Israel’s progress in the coming decades,” declared Dr. Sternstein.
“The program,” he said, “will considerably step up Israel’s agricultural production, stimulate its economy and provide for the absorption of hundreds of thousands of additional immigrants. The program will provide several million work-days for new-comers to Israel, and will strengthen the security of the State by establishing 28 border settlements and the building of security roads along the borders of Israel.”
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