The problem of additional financial aid from American Jewry for the people of the Jewish state was discussed today at a conference among Henry Morgenthau, Jr., general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, Premier David Ben Gurion, and Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan.
At their meeting here, the Israeli Government leaders warned that the continued growth of the country and Israel’s ability to absorb immigrants would be greatly hampered if the flow of contributions from the United States slackened.
Morgenthau, who is the guest of Israeli President Chaim Weizmann on his visit here, expects to confer soon with James G. McDonald, United States special envoy to Israel, and later to visit Jerusalem by way of the so-called "Burma Road."
Speaking at a conference marking the close of the drive for a $20,000,000 internal loan to the government, Premier Ben Gurion last night declared that the Israeli Government "strongly opposes" continuation of an unlimited truce which does not lead to peace and a solution of the Palestine problem. He asserted that the Jews accepted both U.N. truces not because of military weakness, but because of a desire to strengthen the prestige of the U.N.
However, he pointed out, the U.N. has failed to implement two major conditions of the truce: an adequate water supply for Jerusalem and passage for convoys to the Negev. "Therefore," he said, "we notified the United Nations last Friday that we were sending a convoy to the Negev without Egyptian consent and the Israeli Army was ordered to open a way by any means. The way is now open." He declared that the situation in the Negev was "now reversed" and that the Egyptians "must now rely on our grace" to supply their forces in the desert.
"We do not underrate the November (partition) decision, although the United Nations has failed to implement it," the Israeli Premier stated. He added that the Security Council ordered the first truce when it saw that "young Israel was capable of rooting out the combined Area armies. We are fighting on two fronts–military and political–and must win on both for Israel’s future," he concluded.
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