Reconstituted Jewish Agency Civing Broader Representation to Fund-raising Bodies

Final plans for the Reconstitution of the Jewish Agency at an Inaugural Assembly to be held in Jerusalem were made at the meeting of the Planning Committee for the Reconstitution of the Jewish Agency which met here for three days it was announced today by Louis A. Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and Max M. Fisher, chairman of the Planning Committee. Participating in the meeting were members of the Planning Committee from Israel, United States and Canada, Europe, South Africa and South America. The Reconstituted Jewish Agency provides for a 296 man body, half of whom will represent the fund raising bodies in Jewish communities throughout the world, and the other half will represent the World Zionist Organization. The reconstituted and enlarged Jewish Agency, will provide for greater participation of fund raising bodies throughout the world in planning Jewish Agency programs and activities in behalf of Israel. The Reconstituted Jewish Agency provides for a separation of structure and functions between the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel. It will assume the following functions: immigration to and absorption of immigrants in Israel; social welfare services in connection with immigrant absorption; health services in connection with immigration and absorption; education; higher learning and research; youth care and training; absorption in agricultural settlements; and immigrant housing.

The World Zionist Organization will continue to be the overall Zionist body throughout the world. It operates primarily in the fields of Aliya, Education in the Diaspora, Youth and Hechalutz, Organization and information, Cultural institutions, Publications and the handling of the activities of the Jewish National Fund. The Inaugural Assembly of the Reconstituted Jewish Agency will elect a Board of Governors of 40 members and in a series of panels review and plan for the eight areas of activities encompassed within its functions. The 296 member General Assembly of the Reconstituted Jewish Agency will include 130 American members, 89 designated by the United Israel Appeal, Inc., and with 41 among the World Zionist representation. In announcing the completion of plans for the Inaugural Assembly, that will formalize the Reconstitution, Pincus said:

“The Reconstituted Jewish Agency is a practical expression of world Jewry’s determination to do their utmost to give fulfillment to the lives of those rescued Jews, survivors of the holocaust, and others from lands of oppression who have come to Israel in the last quarter century. The Reconstituted Jewish Agency is evidence of the fact that there no longer is any relevance to the distinction of non-Zionist and Zionist–we are all joined together as Jews to help Israel and its people.” Fisher, commenting on the conclusion of arrangements for the Reconstituted Jewish Agency, said: “This is the culmination of the concept originally made in 1922 in the Palestine Mandate of the Council of the League of Nations…Today, with the Reconstitution of the Jewish Agency, there is a formal recognition of the role played and to be played by all Jews willing to assist in the development and growth of Israel.” Continuing, Fisher declared: “It is an alliance cemented in the joint rescue and absorption of a million and a half of oppressed Jews from some of the darkest corners of the world and it is a partnership that responded to the desperate hours and needs of the Six-Day War and rose to new heights of achievement.”