(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)
The program of the Zionist Executive for the Palestine rebuilding work this year was outlined in a statement issued by Dr. Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, for the Executive of the Zionist Organization, and Dr. Leo Motzkin for the Praesidium of the General Council (Actions Committee). The statement read:
“The Zionist Organization, which has taken upon itself the responsibility for rebuilding the Jewish National Home, has adopted a Budget which barely meets the crisis from which Palestine now struggles to emerge. The difficult situation of the past year was not the consequence of insuperable conditions or inherent obstacles either in the land itself or in the quality of the Jewish immigration. It was due to the inadequate returns yielded by the Keren Hayesod and the Keren Kayemeth.
“The task that confronts us is the absorption of at least 30,000 Jewish immigrants a year for the next ten years. Our work in Palestine since the Balfour Declaration was proclaimed proves that the absorption of 30,000 immigrants annually is by no means an exaggerated number. The goal is within our reach if the proper conditions are only created. There are necessary, first and foremost, land; second, an adequate colonization fund; third, credit facilities; and fourth, cultural opportunities and adequate protection of health.
“The Actions Committee therefore appeals to all Jews to supply the Zionist Organization with a budget of two million pounds for 1926-1927, to be utilized for land purchase and agricultural settlement, for immigration and labor, for education and health, and for the establishment of the necessary credits in industry and commerce; and it furthermore calls upon all those interested in building the Jewish National Home to mobilize their energies in the direction of assembling reserves of private capital for investment purposes under public control.
“The two million pounds which Jewry is urged to put at the disposal of the Zionist Organization should be expended in the following way: Land, £500,000; Agricultural Settlements and Labor, £500,000; Credits, Industrial and Commercial, £300,000; Engineering Enterprises, £100,000: Health and Hospital Buildings, £200,000; Education and School Buildings, £150,000; Religious Work, £50,000; Building Operations, £100,000; Contingent and Administrative, £100,000.
“This represents the urgent task of the Zionist Organization for the coming year. During the last few years the dormant conscience of Jewry has, to a certain extent, been aroused. Everywhere Jews are beginning to support the funds that are to make Palestine the Jewish National Home. We stand, however, only on the very threshold of the national redemption. More concentrated effort is required than any we have yet seen. All our forces must be stimulated and mobilized. No Jew may withdraw himself from the duty of contributing to the work of rehabilitation and regeneration, but in the end the huge means required for this unprecedented progress must come from the lands in which life is blessed and man is free: England, Holland, South Africa, Canada, the Argentine, and, above all, the United States of America, must be inspired to greater sacrifice.
“The Zionist Organization, therefore, presses forward with confidence, and anticipates during the coming year a strengthening of its forces, the undeflected devotion of all parties in Zionism, and the generous support of all elements of the Jewish people.”
Plans for the erection of a building adjoining the Adath Kodesch Synagogue. Wilmington, Del., to be used as a center for educational and social activities, are being prepared. The building will include classrooms, an auditorium and swimming pool.
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.
