The economic and social dislocations in the countries in which the American Joint Distribution Committee operates, coinciding with swelling Jewish populations in France and Israel, pose problems which may require a larger JDC budget for 1964 than in 1963, Edward M.M. Warburg, JDC chairman, said here today.
He also told the 19th Annual JDC Country Directors Conference that “unless additional sums are made available to us, we will unquestionably be faced with the impossibly difficult problems of setting priorities for human needs in carrying out our programs for the coming year.” Charles H. Jordan, JDC European director, was chairman for the conference.
Reports were presented from officials responsible for operating programs in 27 countries last year in which aid was provided to 277,000 men, women and children in a wide range of welfare services at a cost of $30,000,000. Most of these funds are provided through the United Jewish Appeal.
Supplemented by a report by Moses A, Leavitt, JDC executive vice-chairman, on a recent visit to Israel, the data presented indicated that the major problems facing the JDC are in Israel, France and the Moslem countries of North Africa and that 75 per cent of JDC funds are spent in these three areas.
Mr. Leavitt said that the mounting pressure of social problems in Israel is screened by its booming economy. He indicated that among the most critical of those problems were the absorption of newcomers from the North African countries and the education of their children.
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