The problems faced by Israel in absorbing the mounting influx of Rumanian and other East European immigrants were illustrated concretely in this settlement today.
More than 400 Rumanian Jewish families have been settled in newly-built houses prepared for them in advance at Kyriat Gat. The settlement is in central Israel, about halfway between Behtlehem and the coast in the Lachish area.
A group of American newspaper and radio editors and correspondents was brought to Kyriat Gat today because this settlement is typical of about 25 others, to which most of the newcomers from Rumania and other East European countries have been taken in the last ten weeks.
Immigrants come here directly from Lydda airport or from the port of Haifa, and are put up in one-story and two-story homes, modestly furnished. Each home is equipped with kitchen utensils and bedding–and contains an eight-day supply of food.
The arrangements are designed to give the immigrant family head at least one week’s freedom from the worries of looking for a job and to adjust himself and his family to the new life in Israel.
In addition to the 400 Rumanian families here, there are also 270 families from Poland and Russia, and about 30 families from Hungary.
The 1,300 Rumanian Jews represent three groups. One is made up of those coming from old Rumania, including Bucharest, most of them being in the managerial and professional category. The second group is composed of Jews from Transylvania and Bukovina. They are mostly artisans and skilled workers, including electricians, metal workers and leather workers. The third group is made up of Jews from Marmoresh. Sighet and Satmar. They have large families, are devoutly religious, and eager for physical labor and farm work.
Though only about half of the immigrants have as yet found employment, they are happy to be in Israel. They are reluctant to talk about life in Rumania or their reasons for leaving.
In dealing with the employment problem, the Israel Government is expanding industry and helping to establish new industries in the area, based on regional raw materials. In the Kyriat Gat region–where cotton and sugar beets are grown–textile and sugar factories are being set up, simultaneously with the construction of new homes. Workers from the ranks of the newcomers are employed on the new construction.
Kyriat Gat already has a population of 7,200 families, which includes a group of veteran Israelis who agreed to settle here to bolster the morale of the newcomers. The veteran settlers also believe that Kyriat Gat will develop into a major industrial and commercial center of the Lachish area.
More than 350 empty houses are ready here for more expected newcomers. Plans are being developed for another 2,000 housing units for those expected to come later in the swelling immigration.
Some skilled newcomers, impatient to find work on their own initiative, have left Kyriat Gat to seek work elsewhere in Israel. No effort is being made to dissuade them. About 60 Rumanian families have moved from Kyriat Gat during the last two months after the family heads had found employment in other towns.
Meanwhile more new families continue to arrive. The SS Aeolia, a Greek ship chartered by the Jewish Agency, was due in Haifa soon with 400 immigrants, more than half of them Rumanian Jews who reached Naples via Vienna.
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