No One Bothers to Knock

Portrait of the Negev-Tireless Land

By ALVIN ROSENFELI)

BEERSHEBA, Israel -- In less
than six years the Negev has un-
dergone a transformation which
is probably unequalled . in any
other area of the globe in that
period. In 1948 there were no
Jewish cities in the Negev, and
there were less than 2,000 settlers

in a baker's dozen of tiny settle-
ments whose chances for growth
and success were severely limited
by a lack of water. Today Beer-
sheba capital of the Negev, has a
population of 23,000, mostly im-
migrants. The old-new city of
Ascalon is the home of 13,000

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Aunt facturer o f

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Holiday Greetings

JERSEY ROSEBUD
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6431 E. Palmer

WA. 3-8000

New Year Greetings

THE W. T. HEANEY COMPANY

Air ConditiOning - Refrigeration - Heating

8425 JOY

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Holiday Best Wishes to All

MICHIGAN
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New Year Greetings

MOCERI BAR MANUFACTURING

Manufacturers of Custom Built Bars
Complete Line of Bars, Bock Bars

ond Fixtures

12709 GRAT1OT AVENUE

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JOE MOCERI

New Tear's Greetings

from.

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and SIDING CO.

20107 VAUGHN
KE. 2-9180

Season's Best Wishes

Monarch Governor Company

1832 W. Bethune

DETROIT 6, MICHIGAN

TR. 1-0200

A Happy New Year to All

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EXCAVATING

Commercial
Residential
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Sewers
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newcomers. and the Negev is a
successful farming area with 60
settlements whose population
totals another 13.000.
i It is apparent that the year
5714 will go down in Israeli his-
tory as the year when the Negev
turned the corner towards eco-
nomic stability, when the vast
investment in agriculture began.
to bring a return.

In 5714 the area devoted to
vegetable production doubled,
zooming from 7,000 dunams to
15,400. The area given over to
fruit trees and vineyards also
doubled, rising from 3,000 to
6,100 dunams. Milk production
in this half of Israel which
once was considered useless
went up from 3,200,000 liters
(a liter is about a pint) to 5,-
200,000 in a single year, while
egg prodUction rose by over
4,000,000 annually. In less than
two years the number of sheep
owned • by Negev settlements
jumped from 1,808 to 4,638.
The role of American Jewry
in the development of Israel's
new breadbasket. has been irre-
placeable. The Jewish Agency,
which receives the great bulk
of its funds from American
Jewry through the United Jew-
ish Appeal, has spent $19,000,-
000 on founding and creating
new settlements in the Negev
up to 5714, without considering
the equivalent sums which
went into Negev's vital irriga-
tion scheme,.

Under the supervision of Mifal
HaNegev, new settlement in the
Negev is a smooth-running, well
Oiled machine. When .newcom-
ers arrive on the site of their
future home, they are served on
the very first day by a consum-
ers' cooperative store. A clinic,
a synagogue building, a kinder-
garten and a school await them.
Their land, usually, has been
deep-plowed the year before,
thus saving valuable months and
permitting speedy planting and
a cash crop the first year.
With the aid of UJA funds, the
new settler lays down irrigation
piping covering 10 dunams; the
goal, within three years, is 25
dunams per family, the mini-
mum below which a decent farm
income is impossible. He also
received ; operating capital for
purchase of seed and fertilizer.
• And so it is not surprising that
the Negev has become a major
experimental laboratory for new
crops which may become major
weapons in Israel's fight for self-
sufficiency. Cotton acreage has
jumped from nothing a couple
of years ago to 1,000 dunams this
year, flax from 0 to 1,500 in a
few years, sugar beets from
nothing to 500 dunams, peanuts
from 0 to 4,500 dunams. Peanuts
have already become a hard pur-
reney crop and in England
pleased consumers ask specific-
ally for "Israeli groundnuts,"
while cotton, flax and sugar beets
grown here will enable Israel.
to do without importing these
items.

The Negev is still full of
problems. Water leads the list.
Vast sums will have to be
raised and spent before the
water problem is solved, for in
the average settlement irriga-
tion must be increased 2
times before the villager can
I j be considered to have a fight-
I ing chance for success.

• A pressing problem is security.
There are few weeks in Israel
report several "incidents" in the
Negev—a few hundred feet of
irrigation piping stolen in this
!settlement, a herd of sheep taken
I from that village, shots fired at
members of a third village. The
project to bring electricity to
thirty immigrant settlements, in
I which the Agency and the goy-
; eminent are cooperating, is mo-
tivated not by the fact that the
!settlers would like to read by
; incandescent light bulb rather
than oil lamp--the Negev is not
yet rich enough for such "lux-
; uries"—but by security consider-
ations. A village with well-built
houses, a fence and searchlights
is a strong village, and a safe
one.
The key problem in the Negev,
which will help solve the security
problem, is empty space which
must be filled up if Israel is to
become self•-supporting.

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS— 83

'Friday, September 24, 1954

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR

To Our Friends and Patrons

TOWN HOUSE RESTAURANT •

UN. 3-4957

7136 W. ivicNICHOLS

UN. 4-3603

19700 LIVERNOIS

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Happy New Year to All Our
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KOW KOW INN

Specializing in American Food
Famous for All Chinese Native Food
Real Cantonese Family Dinners

Corry-Out Service

322 W. McNICHOLS

.

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Best Wishes for a Happy New Year

To All Our Friends and Patrons

MILLER BROS. REALTY CR

And Staff

12120 LINWOOD

TO. 8-0222

New Year Greetings

VINCENT R. NEE REALTOR

18151 Joy Rood

. .

TI. 6-0200

Greetings to All on New Year's

MICHIGAN MUTUAL
AUTO INSURANCE COMPANY

Traverse City, Michigan

C. & C.

Underwriters — Special Agents

811 FOX THEATRE BLDG.
WO. 3-5605

Our Mos' t Cordial Greetings to
All Our Friends and Patrons

For Fast, Accurate and Complete Information, call

J. W. KLEM

UN. 4 4600

REALTOR

-

10607 W. 7 Mile Rd.

25 Years of Experience in. Northwest Detroit

Season's Best Wishes

MOULDING TOOL & DIE CO.

Manufacturers of Tools, Dies, Jigs
Fixtures—Yoder and Tishken
Standard Cutoff Dies

WA. 1-4149

10111 East Canfield

Greetings on the New Year

HOGUE FREIGHT LINES, INC.

General Offices and Terminal

4840 WYOMING, Dearborn

TI. 6-5620

Michigon Instrostote Flouting Between Detroit Area ond
Michigan Points

;roc & Steel Articles

Cement & Building Materials

'Personalized Service"

M.P.S.C. L-6632

New Year Best Wishes

JEFFERSON STEEL CO.

WAREHOUSE

1579 E. Fort St. at Orleans

Detroit 7, Mich,

WO, 2-5000

•

