Recent borings for water reveal possibilities for colonization of 100,000 families through amelioration of 3,000,000 dunams (600,000 acres) of land in Palestine, it was reported today to the Zionist General Council.
The report was given by Dr. Arthur Ruppin, head of the special economic department of the World Zionist Organization, as the council turned to a discussion of colonization activities following three days of debate on political issues.
There are great potentialities for Jewish colonization, declared Eliezer Kaplan, treasurer of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, which demand no less than £1,000,000 (about $5,000,000).
He reported an increased income of over £300,000 for the Palestine Foundation Fund in 1936 as compared with £170,000 in 1933. He also gave a report on the results of the emergency fund drive throughout the world necessitated by the Palestine disorders of 1936. The position of Zionist banks in Palestine is firm, he concluded.
Menachem M. Ussishkin, world president of the Jewish National Fund, the Zionist land-buying agency, reported on activities of the fund.
The debate on political questions ended last night when David Ben-Gurion made a long reply for the Zionist Executive. He called for consolidation of the whole Zionist movement around the demand for fulfillment of the Jewish homeland obligations assumed by the Mandatory Power.
The council elected political, economic, financial and organization committees to submit resolutions to the plenary session.
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.
