The Jewish Agency Assembly adopted a surprise resolution supporting charter flights to Israel before it wound up its fourth annual session here Thursday. The resolution was proposed from the floor by an American delegate, Merill Hasselfield, a member of the Assembly’s fund-raising committee, who argued that the more Jews who come to Israel as tourists, the more are prompted to increase their donations to the United Jewish Appeal of the Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal.
The Israeli government is sharply split on the issue of charter flights. The Ministry of Tourism, worried about the severe decline in tourism this year, has been urging that the charter ban be lifted. But the Transport Ministry, under pressure from El Al, Israel’s national air carrier, has gone on record in opposition to charter flights.
Gideon Vitkon, of the government’s planning center, told the Jewish Agency Assembly that the Jewish rural population in Galilee was expected to grow by some 4500 persons by 1980.
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