The first settlement established by the Hapoel Hemizrachi of America was formally inaugurated today in the Negev, some 20 miles south of here. The 120 members of the new colony include former settlers of Kfar Darom, which held out for five weeks against continued Egyptian onslaughts during the recent fighting, and a Hapoel Hamizrachi group known as Netiuot-Morashi comprising Americans and South Africans.
The Americans in the group, members of both Hapoel Hamizrachi and Hashomer Hadati, trained at the latter group’s Hachsharah camps in Cranberry, N. J., and Guelth, Ontario, Canada. Israeli immigration Minister Moshe Shapiro, Yitzhak Raphael, of the Jewish Agency, and Rabbi Zeev Segal, of the American Hapoel Hamizrachi organization; participated in the new colony’s opening ceremonies. the colony is the 23rd established by the religion group and the first to be replaced of five Mizrachi colonies destroyed in the war including the Kfar Etzion bloc.
Meanwhile, near Jerusalem, the settlers of Maaleh Hamishmar celebrated the return of their children to their families. The youngsters were evacuated for their own safety last year when the fighting became generalized in the Jerusalem area.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
