“Nothing short of the most stringent austerity and the most drastic re-evaluation can cope with the present economic situation which Israel faces,” Col. Leopold Amery, former British Colonial Secretary, said here today following an extended visit to the Jewish state.
Writing in the London Times, Col. Amery asserted that the economic and social strains which a tighter austerity program will set up will be “a severe test of what is at present a stable political structure.” The former Colonia Minister emphasized the Jewish state’s need for peace and for the resumption of normal economic relations with Jordan.
Col. Amery said that his visit to Israel after a lapes of 25 years was “almost a bowildering experience.” He declared that the country had changed “from a primitive, chiefly Arab country into a state which swarms with a new population, Western in restless and creative energy as well as in social habits.” The predominant impression that the visitor discorns, especially in the younger generation, is one of robust health and exuberant vitality, Col. Amery added.
“Despite the widely different origin of immigrants,” the former Minister stated, “Israel is much more than a mincellaneous collection of Jews from all ends of the earth. It is a new nation–an entirely new shoot from a very tough old root.” He concluded with a review of efforts to develop agriculture and industry in Israel and emphasized that it is on technical skill, invention and enterprise in the field of lighter industry that Israel must rely.
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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.
