further to aggravate an already aggravated situation.
Dr. Weizmann emphasized the satisfactory position in Palestine; the steady flow of immigrants to Palestine, the absence of unemployment and the influx of capital.
“This satisfactory situation, does not, unfortunately, affect the Jewish Agency which today is the weakest spot in the structure we are building in Palestine,” Dr. Weizmann asserted. “A great many efforts and enterprises have been undertaken in Palestine over the head of the Jewish Agency, which has had the effect of weakening it the more,” he said.
The Keren Hayesod and the Jewish National Fund are also experiencing difficulties, he declared. Dr. Weizmann appealed to Palestine colonists to make larger contributions to these two funds and called upon the rich colonists to make payments on the loans they have received from the Jewish Agency.
He paid tribute to the Palestine High Commissioner, “who,” he said, “has our respect and who has affection for our home, but we are still struggling to attain a fair share for Jewish labor in the Mandatory’s public works.
“No Arabs think of employing Jews, so we must insist that Jews employ Jewish labor until there is more co-operation between the three elements for the general benefit of the country,” Dr. Weizmann’s reference was to the recent disputes over the employment of Arab labor by Jews, particularly in the Gan Sharon orange groves.
D’Avigdor Goldsmid, Chairman of the British Section of the Jewish Agency, agreed with Dr. Weizmann that the Jewish Agency had failed to fulfill the expectation which its formation aroused. In extenuation, he pleaded that conditions throughout the world, since the establishment of the Agency in 1929, had militated against its success. He expressed the hope that non-Zionist members of the Agency would, directly and indirectly, prove their value in the near future in the Palestine work. “The Zionists,” he said, “should realize that their non-Zionist partners in the Jewish Agency are equally enthusiastic concerning Palestine.” He appealed for unity in the rebuilding work.
Dr. Brodetsky, who returned last night from a tour of East European countries, described the distress there and said that there are thousands of Jews who desire to go to Palestine, but who do not come into the category of those admitted to the country at the present time.
The majority of the Jewish masses whom he encountered, Dr. Brodetsky said, are neither Chalutzim, nor middle class elements, possessing £1000. Therefore they are not given the possibility of securing a livelihood in Palestine.
The group deserves the greatest consideration from the Zionist Organization which cannot exclude or ignore an element which is most typical of the Jewish people. A special effort in their behalf, with the Palestine government is imperative, Dr. Brodetsky urged.
Dr. Brodetsky stressed the need for a revision in the ordinance governing the procedure in Land Disputes, since the theory of the large number of landless Arabs has now been exploded.
This referred, in particular to the regulation which made it possible for Arab squatters or trespassers to retain possession of disputed land pending settlement by the courts.
He expressed opposition to the proposed income tax, showing that the Jews are already paying three times as much in taxes as the Arabs.
He complained that the Moslem courts are subsidized by the government while the Rabbinical courts are not, although their authority was recognized by law.
Referring to the death of J. Jakoby, a Jewish colonist of Nahalal who had come from America, and his nine year old son, both of whom succumbed to injuries received when a bomb, thrown by an unknown, exploded in their home, Dr. Brodetsky said, that this tragedy shows that Palestine still rests under the shadow of organized terrorism.
For the next five or ten years, the Jews will have to concentrate their energies to maintain intact that political status which was assured by the Mandate, Dr. Brodetsky emphasized.
Mr. Marks reported that the income of the Keren Hayesod for the year was £31,000.
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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.
