Israel’s Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir estimated today that last June’s Six Day War cost Israel 400 million pounds sterling or 1 billion, 120 million dollars calculated on the then prevailing value of the pound. Mr. Sapir made this disclosure in the course of an address before 400 leaders of British Jewry at the national convention here of the Joint Palestine Appeal. He gave the figure as an example of the burdens that Israel has to bear and the great need that still remains for continued assistance from world Jewry.
Mr. Sapir and Aryeh Pincus chairman and treasurer of the Jewish Agency, were the keynote Speakers at the JPA gathering which launched the second phase of its Israel emergency appeal. Mr. Sapir described the financial problems that beset Israel both before and after the June war which led to devaluation of the Israel pound. He Justified that measure as one vital to maintain the competitive strength of Israel’s exports. Devaluation assured this relative to the sterling bloc “and we have also gained a certain advantage with countries that have not devalued their currency,” he said. Mr, Sapir predicted that Israel’s devaluation “will probably lead to a re-direction of labor into export industries and will help establish new ones producing for export.
Mr. Pincus, in a summation at the close of the convention, referred to the fundamental question — aliya” (immigration). He said that the 20,000 immigrants expected to come to Israel in the year ahead must not be treated as a final figure because circumstances can change at any time. He said a new bill was now being processed that would eliminate red tape and expedite immigration generally.
Finance Minister Sapir warned that while Israel can economize in many directions, “we cannot cut down the means to meet the vital security needs of our state, especially in light of President Nasser’s recent announcement that Egypt is about to realign its economy on a wartime basis. As examples of how Israelis themselves carry the financial burdens of security, Mr. Sapir mentioned “defense stamps” on many commodities and the special defense loan. He said he intended to convince the Government to disclose the over-all figure of the defense budget to the public to show them where their money is going. He stressed that, though Israel may be nearer to peace than ever, “help from the diaspora remains a constant factor in our planning.”
Earlier, Mr. Pincus told his audience that Jewish humanitarian tradition does not permit the neglect of the Arab population in the occupied West Bank despite the tremendous pressures and demands upon Israel’s resources in the aftermath of last June’s Six Day War.
We cannot close our eyes,” he said, “to the human problems” represented by the hundreds of thousands of Arabs in areas ruled by Israel. He said that although Israel won a victory last June, “there are clouds gathering on the horizon and the pressures are sometimes brutal, sometimes subtle, but always there.
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