An initial sale of $178,133,000 in Israel Bonds announced here last night marked the official opening of the “biggest campaign for Israel’s support since it was founded 26 years ago,” Israel Bond officials said. More than 1800 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada joined in launching a worldwide drive to raise the unprecedented sum of $1 billion through the sale of a new issue of Israel Reconstruction and Development Bonds.
Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization, who presided at the inaugural dinner, said that the extraordinary campaign would help Israel’s economy recover from the October war and lay the economic foundations for peace in the coming year. He declared that the proceeds from the sale of Israel Bonds would also provide for the economic absorption of 60,000 new immigrants expected to reach Israel from the Soviet Union and other countries this year.
Discussing the purpose of the unparalleled campaign, Rothberg said: “We are being asked to provide a Reconstruction and Development Loan to build a bridge from war to peace for Israel and the framework of that bridge is economic development. While the people of Israel must continue to carry the heaviest burden of defense of any people in the world,” he added, “we must carry their economic burden of development and immigration, the two pillars of Israel’s future.”
The $1 billion Reconstruction and Development Bond issue will be allocated to various development areas, as follows: agriculture–$60 million; aviation–$40 million; community facilities (schools, hospitals and public building)–$50 million; electric power–$50 million; housing–$80 million; industry and crafts–$170 million; irrigation–$100 million; mining and minerals–$100 million; port development–$10 million; road building and maintenance–$100 million; shipping–$30 million; telecommunications–$110 million; and other items and general reserve–$100 million.
A YEAR OF DECISION FOR ISRAEL
Commenting on Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s success in obtaining a list of 65 Israel prisoners of war from Syria, Premier Golda Meir, in a cabled message to the conference, expressed the hope that this would be the initial step towards the release of the prisoners. She expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the disengagement agreement with Egypt, adding that “as far as we are concerned there is no reason why agreement should not be reached with Syria as well.” Mrs. Meir emphasized, however, that “negotiations and peace can be achieved only if Israel is strong.”
Asserting that this will be a year of crucial decision for Israel, Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir pointed out in a cable to the conference that “the strength of our economy and the capacity to provide jobs for new immigrants as well as to make a speedy recovery from the effects of the Yom Kippur War will be decisive factors” Sapir warned that because the country’s defense expenditures would consume 40 percent of its total budget; no resources would be available for development unless the Israel Bond Organization assumed full responsibility for the new Development Budget to be announced at the end of the month. Unofficial estimates indicate that this budget will amount to about $700 million.
PROSPECTS FOR PEACE WITH ARAB STATES
Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, was the principal speaker at the inaugural dinner. In the course of his address, he said: “There are prospects for progress toward understanding and peace between Israel and the Arab states. Israel has always hoped and worked for peace. Israel has proved its desire for peace again the separation of forces agreement with Egypt and in its readiness for such an agreement with Syria. We hope that the Arab governments will now demonstrate by constructive attitude and action that they, too, are at long last ready for peace in the Middle East.”
The prospects for peace in the area are “in large measure dependent on the Arab states realizing that they cannot achieve anything by the use of force against Israel,” Tekoah declared. “The prospects for peace are consequently dependent on Israel’s being strong and able to face up to its economic, financial and military problems. The Yom Kippur War, the total backing given by the Soviet Union to the Arab attack, the huge quantities of the most sophisticated Soviet weapons unleashed against Israel, have highlighted the fact that Israel is in the very forefront of the democracies, that the Middle East has been used as a testing ground for Soviet offensive weapons and that it is in the interest of worldwide peace and detente for Israel to remain capable of showing that the use of force and coercion does not pay.”
Rothberg observed that an increased amount of cooperation could be expected from the non-Jewish community through larger Bond purchases by banks, insurance companies, pension funds, trade unions and various institutions. Israel Bond sales to these groups in 1973 increased by 70 percent over 1972–$95 million last year as against $56 million in the previous year. The billion dollar goal for 1974 was adopted a month ago at a conference of Israel Bond leaders convened in Israel by Mrs. Meir. It compares with $502 million in Israel Bond sales last year.
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.
