U. J. A. to Hold National Conference; Will Map Plans for 1959 Drive

Shimon Peres, 35-year-old director general of Israel’s Ministry of Defense and a close associate of Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, will address the 21st annual national conference of the United Jewish Appeal to be held at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York on December 12-14, it was announced today by UJA general chairman Morris W. Berinstein.

Mr. Berinstein emphasized that the immigrant absorption crisis in Israel will be a major concern of the forthcoming UJA conference, which will conclude the 1958 campaign, elect new officers and set the objectives for the 1959 drive. The conference will consider the recommendation of the UJA overseas study mission for a special fund drive to be carried out simultaneously with the regular 1959 UJA campaign. The 100-man mission recently returned from a survey of UJA-supported aid programs in Europe and Israel.

Pointing out that the dangerous Middle East situation has forced Israel’s people to divert their own resources into imperative safety measures, the mission declared that only a special effort by the American Jewish community could cope with the mounting immigrant absorption crisis in Israel. The crisis stems from a new upsurge of immigration from Eastern Europe at a time when scores of thousands of earlier newcomers still lack adequate housing and opportunities for productive livelihoods.

“We are most fortunate,” the UJA head declared, “that Mr. Peres will be with us. He is a brilliant member of Israel’s younger generation now in key positions of leadership in Israel. He has a distinguished record as a top administrator and has carried out diplomatic missions of the highest importance. Mr. Peres also has an authoritative knowledge of one of Israel’s most pressing problems–the full integration into Israel’s life of thousands of newcomers.”