Jewish Agency Will Ask Reparations for Destroyed Jewish Property in European Countries

The Jewish Agency will demand, within the next few weeks, reparations for confiscated and devastated Jewish property, it was announced here today.

The announcement was made by Eliezer Kaplan, treasurer of the Agency, who said that he is proceeding soon to the United States where he will establish close cooperation with the Joint Distribution Committee with regard to the resuce of Jews from European countries.

More than 100 experts are now employed by the Jewish Agency in preparing various surveys on reparations for destroyed Jewish property in Europe and on settling Jewish survivors in Palestine, Mr. Kaplan revealed. He said that the Agency considers its immediate task the bringing to Palestine and the settlement here, within the shortest possible period, of about a million Jews from Europe.

The reconstruction committee of the Jewish Agency, he continued, has almost completed its studies. Its plans lay particular stress on developing the agricultural and industrial possibilities of Palestine. Four irrigation projects – three of them prepared by Palestinian experts and one by American experts – have been submitted to the committee. All experts agree on the possibility of at least trebling the cultivable land, thus enabling the absorption of a large number of new immigrants.

The various plans for absorption of European Jewish survivors in Palestine require hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Kaplan emphasized. The Jewish Agency will try to secure international aid, in money, machinery and raw materials, as well as Jewish national and private capital, he stated. The demands for reparations for Jewish property will be submitted to the nations of the world, he concluded.