Eshkol Presents $1,000,000,000 Plan to World Zionist Congress

A $1,000,000,000 four-year plan for underwriting the State of Israel’s immigration program and for buttressing its economy was presented today at the World Zionist Congress by Levi Eshkol, Finance Minister of Israel and head of the Jewish Agency’s settlement department.

The Zionist movement must mobilize its total resources to back this plan, otherwise he warned, the bringing in of large numbers of immigrants–which may become necessary–could mean the ruination of the economy of Israel, endangering the security of the state and suffering for the immigrants. He expressed hope that the Soviet bloc countries may open their doors wider for Jewish emigration and said that Israel must be prepared for such an eventuality.

To put the plan into operation, Mr. Eshkol–speaking as the Jewish Agency leader–said, would require the United Jewish Appeal to increase its current receipts by $40,000,000 to $50,000,000 annually and to double receipts from the Israel bond drive. These funds would have no relation whatever to the monies needed for security purposes at the present time, Mr. Eshkol stressed.

The absorption of 20,000 new families, as provided by the plan, he reported, will require 480,000,000 pounds; the consolidation of existing settlements, 250,000,000 pounds; the housing of 30,000 to 40,000 immigrants outside agricultural settlements will come to another 150,000,000 pounds; afforestation and preparation of soil, 40,000,000 pounds; employment and health services during the first year of the immigrants’ settlement, 50,000,000 pounds and a variety of other items, including settlement security measures, youth work and organization will require another 280,000,000 pounds.

Mr. Eshkol estimated that in the general immigration movement will come thousands of families who will strike roots on their own and with some assistance from the Zionist movement. He asked that immigration from the Western countries be aided financially to the extent needed by each family.

ANALYZES HOW THIS SUM CAN BE RAISED WITHIN FOUR YEARS

In a detailed analysis of where the 1,800,000,000 pounds–$1,000,000,000-would come from, Mr. Eshkol gave the following sums and their sources; 546,000,000 pounds from German reparations; 154,000,000 pounds from grants and loans; 140,000,000 pounds from government bonds; 140,000,000 pounds from other loans and taxes; 300,000,000 pounds from the UJA; a like sum from the Israel bond campaign, and 220,000,000 from private capital. This investment when injected into the Israel economy will permit the cutting in half of the trade deficit which runs at about $300,000,000 annually.

Mr. Eshkol, who in his two major duties illustrates the point, insisted that the Zionist movement’s program must be carried out in keeping with Israel’s national and economic policies. The Zionist and government development of the countryside and the economy are and must remain intertwined, he said.

Reviewing the accomplishments of the Zionist movement within the State of Israel, Mr. Eshkol said that the incorporation of masses of immigrants from 70 countries in Israel has changed the face of the countryside. New villages have sprung up, he noted, long neglected fields have been fertilized and cultivated, tens of thousands of new homes have arisen and millions of trees now line thousands of miles of avenues. Many wells have been dug, bridges built, roads constructed, streams diverted and springs discovered, he added.

Mrs. Golda Myerson, Labor Minister of Israel, who addressed the Zionist Congress this week-end, declared that as far as Israel was concerned it prefers peace with its Arab neighbors and that “all that is demanded of the Arabs is to stop their shooting at us and peace would reign.” She said that Israel would remain courageous and urged the great powers to do likewise, insisting that peace would be achieved only if the powers stopped sending arms to the Arabs. She rejected a “peace without our agreement” for “such a peace is like war.”

A Brooklyn-born 24-year-old wife and mother stirred the Congress today by describing life in the Kissufim settlement, opposite the Gaza strip border. The young woman. Liora Shofman Borovsky, settled in the border area to raise her family, till the soil and defend the Jewish State.