The State of Israel has been plunged into its “supreme emergency” by the assurance obtained by Egypt of an overwhelming arms superiority, Premier Moshe Sharett warned 60 American Jewish leaders here on a United Jewish Appeal study mission.
The Premier, who denounced the Soviet Union as responsible for this development, said that the United States now had a “moral obligation” to extend a security pact to Israel and should consider this issue as one “which can now be resolved without waiting for further preliminary developments.” He also called on the United States to aid Israel to redress the military balance by supplying arms. But, he warned, “even if an American security guarantee is forthcoming, with all its far-reaching significance, it cannot possibly cover all contingencies and serve as an adequate substitute for our defensive strength, and this must now be substantially enhanced.”
The Premier discussed with the delegation the effect that the additional new burden for armaments would have on Israel’s economy and stressed the sacrifices that would be required of Israelis and the additional call upon the Jews of America and the rest of the free world.
Levi Eshkol, Minister of Finance, told the American leaders that Israel’s people will have to live another ten years in a “spirit of self-denial,” if they are to achieve self-sufficiency. Mr. Eshkol listed a number of goals for Israel’s economy in the next few years. They included doubling agricultural productivity from the more than 400 new settlements established since the state was declared, a fourfold increase–to 400 million pounds–of annual exports, great expansion of industrial production, and doubling productivity per man, now set at 1,500 dollars per year, within the next five years.
The Finance Minister said it was still too early to estimate the exact effect of Israel’s oil find on her economy, but said he thought it would be all right to be optimistic about the possibilities of other oil strikes in the country.
A $127 million “must” program for the immigration and absorption of 45, 000 North African Jews as well as a stepped-up program of economic and other aid for the immigrants of recent years was placed before the study mission by Dr. Giora Josephtal, treasurer of the Jewish Agency. He told the UJA leaders that the major portion of funds for this program would have to come from the UJA, which will be required to raise many millions of dollars more in 1956 than it has in recent years.
The program which Dr. Josephtal outlined was broken down as follows: Immigration and absorption of 45,000 North African immigrants, $45 million; elimination of transit camps and the provision of housing for 60,000 persons still living in the camps, $42 million; the attainment of full productive capacity by 395 new settlements, $33 million for the first year of a three-year program; and a widespread educational and vocational training program for immigrant youth from “backward countries,” who stand in danger of becoming what he termed Israel’s “lost generation,” $7 million.
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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.
