Something of a sensation was caused at yesterday’s meeting of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency by the decision of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, former president of the world Zionist organization and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, to make an address, while he has maintained complete silence at the sessions of the Actions Committee which he has attended.
Dr. Weizmann received prolonged ovations during his address which was devoted to a discussion of Palestine problems. His address revolved around the Chalutzim movement, the question of Transjordania as a possibility for further Jewish settlement and the work of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
The Chalutzim, he emphasized, form the backbone of Zionism because every Chalutz creates greater possibilities for further immigration.
Comparing Palestine with Rhodesia, Dr. Weizmann pointed out that in contrast to Palestine settlers the 50,000 Europeans who migrated to Rhodesia in the last fifty years, barred the door to further immigration since they did no work themselves.
Private investments are of major importance in Palestine upbuilding work, he said. Discussing the allegations that the Jewish youth is being weaned from Zionism by Communism, Dr. Weizmann compared Palestine colonization to a Temple and Russia to the tower of Babel.
Dr. Weizmann approved the plan of Dr. Arthur Ruppin for the settlement of 5,000 families and expressed no doubt that between £200 and £250 would suffice to settle each family as estimated by Dr. Ruppin.
He urged the need for opening the question of utilizing Transjordania for colonization at the present juncture. He also urged the Zionist Organization to bring non-Zionists closer to Palestine work and expressed the view that the inactivity of the non-Zionists is due to the fact that they are insufficiently drawn into a spirit of co-operation which the Zionist section should have created.
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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.
