In the Forefront
Israel Is Just Like a Woman
Of Leadership in
Israel and the U. S.
After Facelifting You Won't Know Her
You won't recognize the Jewish State after its develop-
ment program goes into effect—for the face of the land
is changing rapidly—not haphazardly or at random, but ac-
cording to a well-prepared plan.
Although it has made notable progress in reconstruc-
tion and economic development, a great part of the State of
Israel is still undeveloped, underpopulated and unplanned.
There is, therefore, both a great need and scope for national
planning which is already occupying the minds of the best
planning experts in the country. The execution of these
plans depends on the $500,000,000 State of Israel Bond
Issue.
.
The National Development Plan is based on a population for
ABBA EBAN
Israel amounting to 2,500,000. Of this number. 500,000 will be
engaged in agriculture with intensive irrigated farming as their
principal occupation. To increase the number of persons en-
gaged in agriculture, a country-wide irrigation system would be
set up that would allow extensive new areas to be brought under
cultivation. This would provide adequate, agricultural founda-
tion for the national economy of a predominantly urban com-
munity.
In addition to a better balanced social and economic struc-
ture, the National Development Plan also envisages a better
overall distribution of the population in the various parts of
the country.
At the time of the foundation of the State, 80 per cent of
the population was concentrated in the narrow coastal strip
extending from Haifa to Tel Aviv. Much of this situation was
clue to the political restrictions imposed on the Jewish popula-
tion by the Mandatory Government which reached their cli-
max in the White Paper of 1939, limiting the area open to Jew-
ish settlement to a small fraction of the country.
ANNA ROSENBERG
A plan for the distribution of the population has been
worked out, based on the division of the country into 24 "plan-
ning regions." Each of these regions is designed to support an
estimated average population of 75,000 to 100,000 and to provide
residents with sources of livlihood as well as the necessary re-
gional services and amenities. The "planning regions" have been
mapped out in accordance with the economic resources, geo-
graphical conditions, communications factors, etc. Due regard
has also been given to historical background.
Social policy and good town planning, as well as' considera-
tions of economics and defense, point to the need for a dispersal
'of induStries instead of their concentration in a few vulnerable
spots. In the past, the location of industries was influenced to a
great extent by the general trend towards concentration in a
few overcrowded centers.
Through a judicious industrial policy of locating industries
in accordance with the national interest, the State of Israel is
4>
now in a position to reverse this trend. A survey of the possibili-
ties of industrial development has shown that at least one-half
of the new industries which are likely to be established in the
country do not require proximity to ports or large centers of
population.
They can, therefore, be conveniently located in the new pro-
vincial towns which would actually provide them with more
favorable conditions such as lower costs of living and cheaper
housing and less expensive municipal services.
A comprehensive plan for the development of the country's
roads has also been prepared to provide an efficient system of
communications for successful industrial development and gen-
eral economic progress. The main highways of the future road
system are to carry double lanes of traffic.
The National Development Plan allocates substantial areas
for national parks, forests and natural reserves to serve the
country's health and recreation needs. Most of these areas are
today eroded mountain slopes which have no great economic
or agricultural value, but which can be developed because of
their location or natural beauty into recreation and holiday
resorts.
The distribution of the rural community is a basic factor in
the planning of a future volume and distribution of the general
population. Where conditions are favorable for intensive agri-
culture, a dense rural population can be supported, while in
areas with poor soils and meager irrigation resources only a
sparse farming population will find a livelihood. On the basis
of a total population of 2,500,000 an agricultural population of
500,000 (or 20 per cent) would enable the country to be self-sup-
porting in most of its food requirements.
In view of the fact that irrigation represents a key factor in
the future of the country, the National Development Plan has
devoted a great deal of study to the task of harnessing fully all
of its available water resources. Hydrological exploration in re-
cent years has indicated that the country's total resources are
more than adequate to meet all of its development needs, pro-
vided that water supplies are properly tapped, stored and
distributed.
After the National Development Plan has been implemented,
Israel will have three large cities with a population of 200;000
or more (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa) ; twelve medium-sized
cities with about 50,000 inhabitants each; and more than twelve
small townships each with a population of about 20,000 to 30,000.
Most of these cities will form the centers of their respective
"planning regions." The smaller cities are in most cases to be
developed with the existing rural centers as their nuclei.
The State of Israel Bond Issue will do far more than meet
the country's immediate needs for industrial and agricultural
expansion. It will lay the basis for a transformation of the land
that will be little short of miraculous.
Israel's Ambassador Abba than- Anna Rosenberg Jewish
Wise, Double-Barreled Diplomat Woman of the Pentagon
By DAVID NUSSBAUM
Copyright 1951, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.
, -
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. —
Last October Jewish leaders met
in Washington, D. C., for a Na-
tional Planning Conference for
Israel and Jewish Rehabilita-
tion. As the momentous confer-
ence proceeded, time began,. to
run short and some scheduled
speech-making was eliminated.
At the last minute, however, as
the • conference was drawing to
a close, it was decided to go
through with a speech by • Abba
Eban, Israel's Ambassador to the
United States and chief United
Nations delegate.
Eban was virtually unpre-
pared. Shortly before he ad-
dressed the large audience, he
scribbled a few notes — words,
phrases and an occasional .sen-
tence—on a scrap of paper. It
would be unfair to compare
Eban's subsequent 'performance
with that of Abraham Lincoln,
whq scratched out an historic
address on the train carrying
him; to Gettysburg. But it is a•
matter of record that the Israeli
diplomat electrified as promin-
ent:an American. Jewish gather-
ing- as could be imagined on that
history-making occasion.
The hastily-prepared speech
brilliantly 's ummed up the
achievements of :Israel —"the
country speaks to you with the
accents of triumph"—pinpointed
the objectives of the conference
and their significance—"the po-
litical and military victories are
provisional in character. They
are' not irrevocable. They stand
to be ratified by financial suc-
cess"—and eloquently sought to
rouse his listeners to great ef-
foris—"it would be extraordin-
ary - indeed if an event which
has so impressed itself upon the
general historical conscience of
our generation were to leave a
single Jew impassive or un-
.moved."
The ex temp oraneous sen-
tences lilted and sang. Despite
the almost impromptu nature
of the address, each verb and
adjective rang with precision
and evocative power. In its
whole it pulled every thread to-
gethe•, struck home at the es-
sentials of the problem and left
' the conferees keyed up for
action.
In the brief space of time
since the Jewish state came into
being, Abba Eban has became
one of its most prominent citi-
zens: And, like Winston Church-
ill,: a goodly percentage of his
new-won fame can be account-
ed for by his oratorical genius.
Today, he is more hr demand
as a speaker than any other
Jewish figure. Requests from
both Jewish and non-Jewish
groups—particularly universities
among the latter—pour into the
Israeli embassy at a rate four or
five times greater than it would
be humanly possible to accept
even if he were not at the same
time carrying two enormous
bur dens already. Even so,
Eban's taxing schedule ' is con-
tinuously interspersed with fran-
tic journeys • to every corner of
the United States on speaking
engagements.
• The picture is the same in
Israel itself. Whenever he re-
turns on brief visits, he is nailed
for speeches and draws large
crowds. Eban. has been on as-
signment outside the country
'over . so long a period of time
now that in Israel there is a
tendency to consider him as
"coming from the . outside,"
Hence, he makes . an especial
impact on Israeli audiences be-
cause of the flawlessness of his
Hebrew.
Eban is, in fact, a master of
the rhetorical art' not only in
the . King's English but in two.
other tongues as well, which is
Something he has over Church-
ill. In addition to . Hebrew,
Eban . is capable of wowing an
audience of Arabs in their na-
tive' idiom. His Arabic, indeed,
is superior to most Arabs, since'
he is equally fluent in both the
literary and vernacular forms of
the language.
Once during the last war
when Major Eban, then no more
than 28 years old, was a British
intelligence officer in the Middle
East, he fell into a discussion of
the conglommeration of minori-
ties in the area. An' enterpris-
ing newsman proudly announced
i.;
that he had uncovered some
By ERNEST BROWN
dozen minority groups in Syria
Copyright 1951, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.
alone. The Major contemplated
A Jewish woman who was Straus' strategy. Strauss was so
a moment, silently counted off
on his fingers and then for the driven from Hungary at the impressed he appointed her as
benefit of his listeners reeled off age of 10 is now playing an im- his assistant when he became
a list of 33 sects and nationali- portant role in the efforts of NRA administrator for New
ties in the Middle East, com- the free world to combat tyran- York State in 1934.
plete with a thumbnail descrip- ny. She is Mrs. Anna Rosen- - Among the many jobs she
berg;. 49 - year - old Assistant has held since are positions
tion of each: • •
Secretary
of Defense, who is with WPA, • Social Security
Associates of the ainbassadar
who knew him in his forrhatife directing the mobilization.' of Board, the Office of Defense,
Health and
•
'Welfare Services,
years display- no astonishment American manpower.
If Emperor Franz Joseph had the War Manpower CommisSiort,
at their colleague's newly gained
eminence in this•H•line; • They not changed his mind about a the Victory Labor Board, the
can't remember a time when• he furniture order he placed with Policy . Committee of the Office
did• not shine with forensic tal MIS. Rosenberg's father, Albert of the 'Coordinator of Inter
ent. One of .them. recalls .a He Lederer, we might not haVe had American Affairs, the New York
brew cultural exhibit in London. oUr''Present Assistant' Defense City Defense Council and the
National Military Establishment.
"Eban could have been no more Sedretary.
A junior at Wadleigh High
Mrs. Rosenberg went overseas
than 16 or 17 at the time," he
recollects. "But he was one of School for Girls, in New York on two missions during World
the bright boys of English Zion- City, at the outbreak of World War - II, once in response tip a
ism, and he gave a speech to an War I, Anna took a personal personaI•request by Gen. Dwight
assemblage of . Zionist. intellec 7 interest in the fight - against D. Eisenhower. Her admirers
include Gen. Hugh S. Johnson,
tuals at the . :exhibit. His poi-. -Prussian militarism.
Anna Lederer entered man- Bernard 'Baruch, Gen. George
ished HebreW eXiressions, , ' the
Perfect grasp of the langUage power problems while still'. in Patton and Gen: George C. Mar-
high • school. It was then that shall, who later brolight her to
made a terrific 'linpreasidt0
she settled • her first strike. Washington to serve during the
Meanwhile, Eban . was making When 2,000 high school. boys Korean war. The late Fiorell0
himself a campus figure at went. out on strike against. Mil- La Guardia once said that ".Ai.
Cambridge University as . one of :itary drill during hours, She na knowS more about labor and
the shining lights of the Carn- called a meeting of the strikers human relations . than any maxi
bridge Union. Each week the . and talked them into coopera- in the country."
Union conducted debates care- tion with the school authorities.
When she was • attacked by
fully patterned on parliamen-
McCarthyism and anti-Semi 7
Bearded
Tammany
Tiger
tary lines, and they attracted
tism,."and tbe baseness of - the
considerable attention. It • was As Suffragette Leader
attack's were exposed, it devel-
As
a
suffragette,
Anna
as-
not long before Eban. 'attracted
oped that the decent people of
the' lion's: 'share of that atten,- tounded Tammany Hall by the the nation iuddenly, came .. to
visit to "Old Jim" Hagan; a
tion.
typical Tammany boss. Anna life. TheY sensed the encroach-
Born in South Africa into a asked Hagan's support of votes ment of freedom at hi:me at a
prominent Zionist family, the for women. Hagan ignored her. time When we are fighting for It
young Eban in England became "With that attitude, she ex- abroad. And they vindicated the
passionately concerned in all ploded, "it's no wonder you little Jewish woman and arr.-.
aspects and phases of the Zion-
plauded her.
ist . movement and involved him- can't. carry your district." Ha-
When Mrs. Rosenbeg was
gan
answered
the
young
suf-
self • in its. activities. In his •uni- fragette by making h e r his recommended by Gen. George 0,
versity studies themselves he de- protege.
Marshall, Secretary of Defense,
voted himself to scholarship in
and approved by President Tru..
Anna
•
busied
herself
with
Oriental languages, whith ac- politics but found time to mar- man, government officialS
counts for his knowledge in that ry Julius Rosenberg, an infan- agreed it was a wise choice. .3
field, - although, in the case of try veteran who had returned was also a courageous move .on
Hebrew, it had been actually the from the war. She learned the the part . of the President to
first language he spoke.
political ropes and soon gained back a woman whose religiOuS
Steeped in the classical Zion- enough prestige with Hagan to background was a particularly
ist tradition, there is nothing of manage his son's campaign for tempting target for reactionar-
the politician in Eban, accord- election. Young Hagan was ies who have smeared many of
the President's finest officials.
ing to his intimates, nor would elected. .
His confidence in the fairness
his future lie in such a direc-
Nathan Straus, Jr., in 1937,
tion. He is one of the few in supported a candidate against of the American people is being
Israel prominent in public af- Hagan's district leadership. justified.
fairs on whom it is impossible Mrs.
Rosenberg
successfully 6 THE JEWISH NEWS
to hang a party label.
Friday, Apri1 , 20, 1951
mapped
the
opposition
to
z
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