Compromise on Election Ordinance in Palestine is Sought by Mizrachi

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The controversy which is now raging among the various sections of Palestine Jewry in connection with the organization of internal autonomy under the Palestine Communities Ordinance may be ended if the compromise offered by the Mizrachi is accepted.

The ultra-Orthodox declined to join the Kenesseth Israel, the Jewish community unit provided for in the ordinance, and are agitating for the creation of separate organizations because of their objection to woman’s suffrage and because of their fears that they will be outvoted in matters of purely religious interest by a majority of non-observant and secular minded members.

The Mizrachi leadership in Palestine has now put forward a proposal which would permit women to vote but not to be elected to those offices within the Jewish community and in the central body which dealt with the purely religious aspects of the life of the community. The Mizrachi proposal also urges the Vaad Leumi, the national council of Palestine Jews, which, under the law, is to be the recognized spokesmen of the individual communities, to amend the election ordinance in other respects so that the objections of the ultra-Orthodox Jews will be removed and they will be enabled to participate in the general organization.