A unanimous resolve to fulfill Israel’s “decade of development” was issued here by some 300 delegates from throughout the United States who attended the Jewish National Fund national conference on Sunday.
The delegates voted unanimously to endorse JNF’s current program of settlement site preparation, access road building, land reclamation and agricultural research projects currently underway with the aim of progressing to a stage of extended development within 10 years.
Speakers stressed that because of Israel’s current economic crisis, work towards reclaiming a large portion of the land of Israel is being jeopardized. Thus, they pointed out, substantial sums are needed to complete urgent development projects.
Charlotte Jacobson, JNF president, and Dr. Samuel Cohen, JNF executive vice president, presented detailed reports about current JNF programs reclaiming barren hills in Galilee and sand dunes in the Negev and Arava.
At present, they reported, only 25 percent of Jewish ancestral soil in Israel has been developed for settlement and agriculture. Yet it is in these regions that the population must be increased to offset the pressure of having 80 percent of Israel’s current population along the narrow stretch of the Mediterranean coast.
MOYNIHAN PAYS TRIBUTE TO LATE SENATOR
Addressing the luncheon session, Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D. N. Y.) paid tribute to the late Sen. Henry Jackson, his close personal friend for many years. He said Jackson was the embodiment of “honesty, straightforwardness and friendship for Israel and the Jewish people.” Moynihan contrasted Jackson’s record with the “totalitarians and Israel haters” dedicated to the isolation and “eventual destruction of the State of Israel.”
Moynihan emphasized that the bill he introduced in the Senate that would oblige the U.S. to move its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “would be a signal to the world of Israel’s determination to have its capital respected and supported as legitimate and sovereign.” He pointed out that the so-called non-aligned countries have resolved that Israel must relinquish even West Jerusalem, not only what is usually called “occupied East Jerusalem.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
