The plenary session of the World Zionist Congress last night adopted a series of resolutions reaffirming the right of every Jew to free choice as to the type of settlement in Israel he wishes to enter, and calling for the settlement of 50,000 persons on the land during the next few years in order to make possible a sufficient food supply for a population of 2,000,000.
The resolutions note the settlement on the soil of middle-class elements having their own means and call on the State and Zionist institutions, which had helped this type of settlement, to increase their efforts among middle-class Jews and provide the land and means for their settlement. The resolutions also call for professional men and technical experts from Israel and overseas countries to join and aid the new settlements. They urge Jewish youth in Israel and overseas to become pioneers on the soil
The resolutions on absorption of immigrants welcome the distribution of population in areas such as the Galilee Valley, the Jerusalem district and the Negev, the southern desert, which are not sufficiently populated, They urge the Jewish Agency to grant priority in improved housing facilities and adequate facilities and services to those settling in places assigned to them under the distribution plan for settlement of population.
The resolutions note the need for planned training of professionals in fields like medicine and education and the distribution of trained personnel throughout areas of immigrant settlement. Under the resolutions, the Congress expresses appreciation of intensive efforts made to improve the health of immigrants but points out that there are many deficiencies in this field.
URGE EMPLOYMENT FOR PEOPLE OVER 50 YEARS OLD
The resolutions praise women’s Zionist organizations for voluntary services in the labor settlements and immigrant camps and call upon the Israel Government to increase its aid to these women’s groups. The Israeli Army and the Israeli pioneer youth are similarly praised for their aid to immigrants.
The resolutions call for special attention to the problem of employment for people over 50 years of age and for elderly persons and all requiring special rehabilitation. They also thank the Jewish Agency for its efforts to aid the integration of veteran Zionist workers and express appreciation to the Agency and the Ministry for Religious Affairs for public religious services provided in the immigrant centers and call for expansion of these activities.
The Political Commission today adopted by unanimous decision a resolution calling on the World Zionist Organization to erect a special memorial to the Jewish martyrs murdered by the Nazis of “such impressiveness and scope” as to attract to Jerusalem thousands of Jewish pilgrims annually to pay homage to the victims.
The Commission also decided to set aside the 27th day of the Jewish month of Sivan as an annual memorial day for the martyrs and Jewish partisans who fought the Nazis in the ghettos of Europe. The Mapam representatives proposed that April 19 be named as a memorial day for the Jewish ghetto fighters of Warsaw, who rose against their Nazi oppressors on that date in 1943.
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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.
