A $24,000,000 budget for the work of the Jewish Agency in Palestine was asked today by Eliezer Kaplan, the Agency’s treasurer, addressing the World Zionist Conference. This sum is not for aid to Jews now in Palestine, but for Jewish refugees who are expected to reach Palestine, he said.
Kaplan revealed that the Jewish Agency is making “immediate plans” for a million Jews to settle in Palestine. Dr. Emil Shmorak, head of the economic department of the Jewish Agency, in elaborating on Kaplan’s statement, told the conference that investments amounting $1,600,000,000 will be needed to establish a million Jewish newcomers in Palestine. The money, he said, will have to be provided from Jewish national funds and private sources.
The Manchester Guardian today emphasizes that Dr. Weizmann in his addresses before the World Zionist Conference made it plain that Britain may perhaps endorse the Zionist aim for an independent Jewish State, but will proceed slowly with practical steps. The paper comes to this conclusion on the basis of the fact that Dr. Weizmann said yesterday that the road to an independent state may be long and hard.
Ben-Gurion’s five-point program outlined before the World Zionist Conference yesterday is “a direct challenge to Weizmann’s leadership,” the article in the Manchester Guardian says. Emphasizing that there are serious differences of opinion among the delegates at the conference, the paper says that the outcome of the conference will show “whether the Zionist movement is at present directed more by emotional forces which do not want to wait, or by sources conscious of Zionist responsibility to the world, and particularly to this country.” The moderates, the article concludes, have so far received little hearing at the conference, but their chances are not lest, the paper thinks.
At a reception for the delegates of the Zionist conference given today by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Dr. Weizmann said: “We can summarize the problem of our present conference in one sentence, namely – to find a high road for Palestine. The goal is not yet achieved, but we have confidence in achieving it.” He said that the fact that representatives of the Jewish survivors are participating in the World Zionist Conference “slightly relieves our sorrow for the tragedy of European Jewry, since these who emerged from the European hell are holding their heads high and are facing their new problems with courage, determination and confidence.”
SILVER AND WISE MAY BECOME MEMBERS OF JEWISH AGENCY EXECUTIVE
The executive of the World Zionist Organization today met with members of the American delegation to consider a number of political questions. It is understood that a suggestion is now under consideration to include Dr. Abba Hillel Silver and Dr. Stephen S. Wise in the Jewish Agency executive.
Meanwhile Dr. Silver was today elected chairman of the political committee of the World Zionist Conference. Dr. Wise was elected co-chairman of the same committee. Zalman Rubashev, Palestine labor leader, was chosen vice-chairman.
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.
