World Executive of Confederation of General Zionists Meets in NY

The third world conference of General Zionists headed by Mrs. Rose L. Helprin and Dr. Israel Goldstein will be held in Amsterdam in the middle of May, it was announced here today following a meeting of the executive of the Confederation held here.

The conference, which will open on May 20, will discuss the stand of the Confederation on the issue of merger in General Zionism and other problems confronting the Zionist movement today. The merger issue was also discussed at the executive meeting here which took place this week at Hotel Barbican Plaza.

Eden J. Horwitz, president of the United Zionist Association of South Africa and Rhodesia and chairman of the South African Zionist Federation who participated at the meeting spoke of Zionist activities in his country and concluded as follows: “We in South Africa are wholeheartedly with you on the principle of non-identification with any political entity in Israel. If a merger on such a basis, that is, on strict observance of the principle of non-identification, is possible, then we are all for it.”

Pointing to the growth of the World Confederation of General Zionists since its reorganization in 1958, and the increasing acceptance of the non-party approach to Zionism, Mrs. Helprin, who chaired the meeting, declared that “affiliation with political parties in Israel weakens the chances of achieving unity and maintaining harmony in Zionist ranks in the Diaspora.”

The relations of Diaspora Jewry should not, Mrs. Helprin held, in any event be on a political basis, but rather with the country as a whole, with Israel as a spiritual and cultural focus for Jewish life. The advantage of a non-political approach is that the Confederation is free to view problems on their merit, unhampered by party interests and unrestricted by party discipline, she declared.