An average of 8, 000 persons are settling in Israel annually from Western countries in what has become a steady influx of such newcomers, Aryeh L. Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, said here today.
Speaking at a meeting of the Mapai central committee on Aliyah and relations with non-Israel Jewry, he also reported that the number of such immigrants leaving Israel and returning to their countries of origin did not exceed 10 to 15 percent.
He declared that, during the decline in large scale immigration to Israel, efforts must be made to increase immigration from Western countries. He added that this could be facilitated by a radical change “in the way of thinking by Israelis vis a vis the Diaspora.”
Mrs. Golda Meir, the Mapai secretary-general, told the meeting that mixed marriages among Jewish youth in the United States has reached 30 percent. She said every effort must be made to send young Israelis to summer camps and youth centers in the United States to boost the Jewish spirit in such facilities. The participants decided to hold another meeting on the same problem.
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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.
