A program for the acquisition of 1,000,000 dunams (250,000 acres) of land in Israel this year, outlines by Dr. Abraham Granovsky, world resident of the Jewish National Fund, was endorsed here today at the concluding session of a three-day extraordinary conference of the J.N.F.
The delegates also endorsed a three-year campaign by J.N.F. to raise $300,000,000 for land acquisition, reclamation and afforestation in Israel. Other resolutions adopted saluted Israel for its acceptance to membership in the United Nations by ## Security Council; pledged support to the United Palestine Appeal and congratulated Israeli President Dr. Chaim Weizmann on his election.
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, In a broadcast from Israel carried over a nationwide hookup, paid warm tribute to this country for its aid in securing the independence of Israel. He credited Israel’s success to Its fighting men and to the support given by America. He urged however, that although the war has been won, his support should continue on an even larger scale.
Dr. Granovsky, who came to this country to participate in the conference stressed the importance of a strong agricultural base for Israel’s economy, He said at “if the structure of the state is to be sound, simple economics requires that about 20 percent of the people must settle on the land.” He pointed out that “one on the land enables four other families to find a livelihood in the cities.”
Judge Morris Rothenborg, head of the J.N.F. in America, reported to the parley that a network of 198 new settlements had been blueprinted for 1949. He revealed that many difficulties in the way of acquisition of land had been removed by the establishment of the government of Israel. Mendel Fisher, executive director of the J.N.F., reported that the Fund had collected $106,000,000 since its inception forty-seven years ago, and that it now operates in 1,800 communities in the U.S. Aubrey Eban, Israeli representative to the U.N., and Jewish Agency executive chairman Berl Locker also addressed the conference.
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