Zoa-azf Rift Remains Unresolved

The Zionist General Council (Actions Committee) wound up its annual meeting here Friday without resolving a major internal conflict over whether the Zionist Organization of America should be compelled to re-join the American Zionist Federation from which it bolted last year.

A resolution that would have expelled the ZOA from the World Zionist Organization if it remained obdurate was abandoned at the last minute in favor of a compromise proposed by WZO Treasurer Arye Dulzin to refer the issue to the WZO Executive.

Herman Weisman, president of the ZOA and Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the AZF formally pledged to abide by whatever decision is reached by a 2/3 majority of the WZO Executive.

The compromise was adopted after a session lasting into the wee hours of the morning, marked by tension and mutual recriminations between the various Zionist parties, Louis Pincus, chairman of the WZO Executive, seemed adamant on forcing the ZOA back into line in the interests, he said, of building a united Zionist movement in America.

Weisman was equally adamant. He warned the Council not to use “the axe” on the oldest Zionist organization in the U.S. “You cannot build unity with a sledgehammer,” he said. Wetsman also said there were signs on both sides of a readiness to discuss the issues which led to the split with a view to healing the rift.

The compromise submitted by Dr. Leon Kronitz of Canada, chairman of the Constitutions Committee, was adopted by a majority of the General Council. Hadassah and the World Confederation of General Zionists abstained. Ezra Shapiro, chairman of the World Confederation, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency later that it accepted the compromise but disapproved of the way it came about.