The Mapai political committee, augmented by party members in the Cabinet and Parliament, met tonight to discuss the Lavon Plan for putting the country on a war footing in preparation for an expected Arab attack. The plan, drafted by a special committee headed by former Defense Minister Pinchas Lavon, received virtually unanimous approval among party leaders.
Interest in the meeting tonight centered about the composition of the citizens National Defense Council projected in the Lavon Plan as a body with consultative status with the Premier and Defense Minister. It is understood that the drafters of the plan visualized membership on the council being extended to representatives of all parties as far right as the Herut, as well as to members of the government coalition parties.
The newspaper Maariv reported today that Finance Minister Levi Eshkol will submit a plan to the Cabinet to restrict immigration this year in an effort to divert every possible pound to defense preparations. This plan, the newspaper asserted, has created a stir within the Mapai Party leadership, with some sections insisting that the manpower to be gained from immigration is as important as the money saved by reducing the immigrant flow.
Mr. Eshkol, who will meet tomorrow with Jewish Agency representatives on his plan, according to the newspaper, proposes to cut back immigration from a planned 40,000 to 45,000 in 1956 to a maximum of 20,000. This he estimates, will save 25 million pounds, to swell an anticipated 50 million pounds to be raised by a special defense tax envisioned in the Lavon Plan.
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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.
