Proposed changes in the constitution of the World Zionist Organization. which will be taken up at the forthcoming session of the Zionist Actions Committee to be presented to the World Zionist Congress next year, were discussed at a meeting here of leaders of the World Confederation of General Zionists, of which Mrs. Rose Halprin and Dr. Israel Goldstein are co-chairmen.
There are at present two committees in Israel working on these changes–the Constitution Committee, and the Noy Committee, which is a 19-man body under the chairmanship of Melech Noy, appointed by the last Actions Committee to study the structure of the World Zionist Organization.
The chairman of the meeting, Mrs. Halprin, analyzed the changes contemplated in the revised constitution, and reported on the findings of both committees in Israel. Primarily, she pointed out, a number of points in the present constitution have been made obsolete by the creation of the State of Israel, and have rendered the position of the World Zionist Organization anomalous. After a lengthy discussion of the Noy and Constitution Committee findings, the meeting resolved:
1. It takes the stand that the 500 mandates determined for the Zionist Congress be apportioned as follows: one-third for Israel and two-thirds for the rest of the world, plus an additional 15-20 delegates to be chosen by and from tiny Jewish communities having 400 souls, with the understanding and cooperation of the Jewish Agency.
2. The Shekel should remain as a token, confined exclusively to the Congress year; price of the Shekel to be determined for each country individually.
3. The size of the Actions Committee–100 members–should not be reduced, otherwise maximum representation cannot be assured for all of world Jewry, including the most far-flung communities.
4. A subcommittee should meet with representatives of the Noy Committee in Jerusalem prior to the sessions of the Actions Committee, to discuss its findings and present the view-point of the Diaspora-based World Confederation of General Zionists. This subcommittee to be composed of Mrs. Halprin; Dr. Miriam Freund and Mrs. Mortimer Jacobson of Hadassah; Judge Louis E. Levinthal; Lawrence Freiman, Canada; Barnett Janner, M. P. England; Melech Topiol, France; Dr. Adolfo Fastlicht, Mexico; and Dr. M. Vodovotz,Argentina.
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