A total of 379,246 immigrants arrived in Israel from May 14, 1948, when the Jewish state was proclaimed, through the end of March, 1950, it was announced today. The Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund, during this period, expended approximately $92,400,000 for immigration and absorption programs, the announcement said.
Plans for distributing the scores of thousands of Jews still living in immigrant reception camps to all sections of the country are now being accelerated. Transfer of the majority of the camp residents was delayed owing to the severe winter season which has just ended. Meanwhile, a new plan for the settlement of newly-arrived immigrants in Israel is under study here by the Jewish Agency, it was reported today.
Under the new sohems, immigrants will no longer spend any time in reception camps, but will be absorbed immediately in “tent villages” to be set up throughout the new state. The plan is expected to go into operation following arrival of the next 10,000 families. Half of these will be settled in the new tent camps–probably in upper Galilee–and it is hoped that many will remain to make the area their permanent residence. The other 5,000 families will be integrated into “work villages,” which amy later develop into permanent settlements.
Three new settlements were founded yesterday in the southern Negev area of Israel, it was announced today. A group of 100 immigrants from Tripoli took possession of a land strip overlooking the site of Naan Hulda Ekron, while 70 recently-arrived families from Iraq settled in “Ashdud Alef.” A third colony, founded by Tripolitanian Jews, was named “Imara Dalet.”
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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.