Jewish Agency Makes Plans to Settle 1,000 Families on Palestine Coastal Plain

A project to settle one thousand Jewish families on small holdings in the plantation belt along the coastal plain of Palestine, probably on the Wadi Hawareth lands of the Jewish National Fund, was advanced with the announcement at the meeting of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency that the funds necessary are available.

Dr. Maurice Hexter, American member of the Palestine Executive of the Jewish Agency and one of the triumvirate in charge of the distribution of the Palestine Emergency Fund, outlined his plan for the settlement of the thousand Jewish families which it is estimated will cost $2,175,000. This sum includes the $250,000 set aside for this purpose by the Palestine Emergency Fund.

Describing Dr. Hexter’s reference to the settlement project as “a lunch appetizer,” Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Administrative Committee, requested Bernard Flexner, chairman of the Palestine Economic Corporation, to report on the progress of negotiations with the Jewish labor groups concerning the settlement project. Dr. Flexner said that the project would take time but he hoped for an early beginning and the eventual securing of the entire amount needed.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learns that a large part of the funds needed for financing this project will be subscribed by the Palestine Economic Corporation, Simon Marks of London, a German group including Oscar Wasserman, president of the Deutche Bank and chairman of the board of directors of the Keren Hayesod, and Max Warburg, Hamburg banker and brother of Felix M. Warburg.

The settlers who will be placed on the land in connection with this project will contribute $1,115,000 in labor over a long period of time and $150,000 in cash. The entire investment will be based on long term credits.