the non-Zionists voluntarily reduce their representation on the Agency executive body, the Zionists would not renew the agreement on which the Agency is based. A resolution authorizing the Zionist executive to introduce negotiations with the non-Zionists along these lines was adopted by the Congress.
CONSTITUTION CHANGE
In a precedent-breaking move, the Congress authorized a change in the constitution of the World Zionist Organization, giving its Actions Committee the power to convoke the Congress every three years instead of every two years whenever two-thirds of the members of the committee deem such a course advisable. A resolution to this effect was adopted over severe opposition.
In the first resolution unanimously adopted by the Congress, the Zionist executive was instructed to devote more attention to relief work organized in behalf of persecuted Zionists in Soviet Russia and to support the Magen, the organization created to further this relief work.
An SOS to the Jews of the world to help the executive collect funds for the relief of the Russian Zionists was sounded by Dr. Leo Motzkin, president of the Congress. Dr. Motzkin’s appeal and the Congress action had been foreshadowed in the speech of Dr. Sokolow in which he described the condition of the Jews throughout the world.
FIVE-YEAR PLAN
A resolution urging the creation of a special economic board to draft a plan for Jewish economic development in Palestine during the next five years, was adopted by the Congress. The resolution sharply criticized the customs duties system in Palestine and th entire commercial policy of the Palestine Government as hampering the development of Jewish industry. The resolution also pointed out that present immigration restrictions are destroying many economic possibilities for the Jews in Palestine.
Speculation in real estate in Palestine, especially in the city of Tel Aviv, drew heavy criticism. Tel Aviv, it was stated, is overpopulated and has a concentration of new immigrants while other cities, such as Haifa, are neglected against the best interests of the country as a whole.
The resolution demands that the Government modify existing customs duties to favor Palestine industry and prevent the dumping of foreign goods; exempt all machinery necessary for agriculture and industry from customs duties; modify existing immigration restrictions to permit the entrance of qualified laborers and small industrialists with a capital of 500 pounds in cash or equipment; immediate granting of permanent residential permits to persons entering Palestine as tourists but who have established industrial enterprises there, are participating in such enterprises or have found employment as skilled laborers, and reducing the capital requiremnet for artisans seeking entrance to the country from the present 250 pounds minimum to 150 pounds.
A budget of 175,000 pounds was recommended to the Congress by the budget committee, 75,000 pounds of this amount to go to the payment of accumulated debts. This budget is independent of the large fund to be raised for the settlement of German Jews in Palestine.
INSTITUTIONS CRITICIZED
The Anglo-Palestine Bank and other Zionist financial institutions were criticized for not always fulfilling “their obvious duty” in assisting the economic development of Palestinian industry. A resolution adopted by the Congress demands that these institutions make more credits available for small industries and for artisans. The Congress resolved to keep representatives of the Zionist Organization in the financial and economic institutions in which the organization is a participant. This has not been the practice until now.
The Congress court, which met to hear charges of libel preferred against David Ben-Gurion, Zionist labor leader, for remarks he directed against the Brith Hachayil, semi-military organization of Revisionists, in addressing a conference of the Laborites before the opening of the Congress, cleared Ben-Gurion of libel but reprimanded him for insulting the Polish organization.
EXPULSIONS AUTHORIZED
The Congress, in a stormy twelve-hour session which commenced Saturday evening and continued until well on into Sunday morning, authorized the expulsion from membership in the Zionist Organization of any groups or individuals breaking the discipline of the organization.
The resolution to this effect was carried by a vote of 152 to 13 after the Revisionists, at whom it was directed, officially declared they would not participate in the voting. Their decision followed their unsuccessful fight to keep the resolution from a vote and the defeat of their counter-proposal.
The resolution points out that only the Zionist Organization has the authority to conduct Zionist political and diplomatic activities and that individual groups or individuals have no right to deal with governments or the League of Nations on these matters without authorization. It provides for the creation of a special tribunal to hear charges of such activities and with the right to punish violators by suspension or expulsion.
PEACE WITH ARABS
The Congress approved the stand taken by the Actions Committee in opposing the French Report on the development of Palestine and in a resolution pointed out that the conclusions of the report were in contradiction to the terms of the letter of Premier Ramsay MacDonald to Dr. Chaim Weizmann in February, 1931, and instructed the executive to renew efforts with the British Government to ensure equal benefit for Jews and Arabs in urban and agricultural plans under the new 2,500,000-pound development loan, on the basis of parity for both.
The Congress proclaimed again the “desire of the Jewish people to live in peace and to cooperate with the Arabs in Palestine. There is no contradiction between the strivings of the Jewish people and the living interests of the Arab masses,” a resolution adopted pointed out.
The hope, that with the help of the mandatory power, “a way will be found to enable Jewish colonization in the Transjordan,” was expressed by the Congress, and the Zionist executive was instructed to continue its efforts toward a mutual understanding between Arabs and Jews in the Transjordan.
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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.
