Personalities at World Zionist Congress
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THE JEWISH NEWS
N11
A Weekly Review
Editorial
Page 4
Oddities
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Many
Fronts
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1—i I
Israel .
f Jewish Events
Pages 5 and 32
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper—Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
Vol. XXXVI I I No. 20 noPjoinenciloPSIalop 17100 W. 7 Mile Rd.—VE 8-9364--Detroit 35, Janua'iy 13, 1961—$5 : 00 Per Year; Single Copy 15c
,
Emphasis on Aliyah, Education
Given Precedence at WZ Congress;
Fail to Agree on New Executive
Officer *I" Says He
Didnt- Frame Lavon
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News)
TEL AVIV—A new and explosive element
was introduced Wednesday in the bitter dispute
between Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and Hista-
drut Secretary General Pinhas Lavon when an
army officer involved in the situation returned
to civilian status and said he was ready to fight
to clear his name.
The former officer, identified only by the
letter "Y" in his last name, is the senior officer
accused by a' seven-man ministerial committee
with having forged a document purporting to
prove that Lavon, as Israel defense minister in
1954, gave the order which led to a disastrous
security mishap and to Lavon's ouster from the
ministry in 1955.
In a rapid fire sequence of events during the
past 24 hours, Attorney General Gideon Hausner
instructed the Israel chief of staff to dismiss the
officer from active service and the former officer,
through his Haifa attorney, said that as a civilian
he considered himself free "to choose. ways to
prove my claini that I am not guilty?'
• It was recalled that a committee headed by
. Justice Haim Cohen which investigated the 1954
security mishap last year, charged. that the senior
officer induced another officer to give false
(Continued on Page 2)
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
JERUSALEM, Israel.—Aliyah----the settlement of large numbers of Jews, both from lands
of oppression and democratic countries like the United States, in Israel—and the expansion of
Jewish educational activities in the Diaspora were emphasized as the major activities facing
the world Zionist movement, in resolutions adopted by the 25th World Zionist Congress.
But while there was agreement on the chief issues facing Jewish life everywhere, and
on the need for providing havens for Jews who still live under oppression—as well as on the
importance of encouraging the settlement of American.. Jews in Israel—the Congress could
not agree on a new executive committee.
Delegates representing the Jewish communities throughout the world were elated at
the outset over the announcement that, unlike previous Congresses, the election of an Exec-
utive would be held long before the end of the Congress. So anxious were the delegates for
speedy action that plans were formulated to end the Congress last Monday evening—a day
earlier than the original length of the world sessions. The election was to have been held a
week ago Wednesday. But a conflict developed. The two Confederations of General Zionists
became involved in a contest over the composition of the new World Executive. Dr. Nahum
Goldmann had asked Dr. Israel Goldstein, who, with Mrs. Rose Halprin, heads one of the Con-
federations, to head the Jerusalem branch of the Jewish Agency Executive. Dr. Goldstein
demanded freedom of action, which was interpreted as meaning the elimination of Dr. Emanuel
Neumann, head of the other General Zionist Confederation that includes the delegation of the
Zionist Organization of America, from the New York chairmanship of the Agency.
Monday night's session was interrupted with an announcement by Dr. Goldmann that
the original plan of holding the Congress sessions through Tuesday had to be put into effect
in view of lack of agreement on the composition of the Executive. There still was no action on
Tuesday, and on Wednesday the Congress finally ended its sessions with a decision to prolong
the life of the present Jewish Agency Executive until next May. Thus, all efforts to salve the
wounds, especially those that involved the American League for Israel and the ZOA and Hadas-
sah, whose delegation joined the League in the Goldstein-Halprin headed Confederation, failed
completely.
The issue became tense on Sunday, when the Mizrachi delegates decided to join the ZOA
(Continued on Page 7)
Life Hewed Out of Desolation in Israel;
Frontiersmen's Work in Dimona and lobar
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Go to the hinterland, ye tourists . . When you go to Israel, you'll surely see Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and Haifa
and Rehovoth and Nathanya and a score of other important cities . . But you must not rest until you see the richly
developed farmlands of the Galil . . . and then you must go into the desert . .. You must go into the Negev . . . You
must become acquainted with the people of Israel and with their creations . . . You must see the superhuman efforts
of the frontiersmen who are turning rocky areas into livable terraces, who are making the desert blossom and are trans-
forming it into their home . . The Negev is what the Galil was, and the Negev soon will be what the Galil is . . . The
stories about Dimona and the Zohar Gas Fields are related . . . That's why they are grouped together: for our people
to learn how a people, under pressure from a hostile world, now is hewing life out of a desert of desolation,
The Miracle of Dimona
DIMONA,
Israel — In 1957, a new settlement named Dimona
began to arise in the sands of the Negev desert, about 30 miles south-
east of Beersheba, halfway between Beersheba and S'dom. There
were a few huts in the hot sands, without a blade of grass, and the
handful of people who accepted the assignment to establish new
signposts in that area appeared to be doomed to a life of misery — if
there was to be any life today.
This correspondent, in the skepticism of an objective observer,
pitied the "doomed." He considered it cruel to send anyone into the
miseries of the hot sands of the desert, where the winter adds misery
to misery, where everything seemed so unprotected. "Wait and see
what'll happen here within a few years," he was told.
. The prophecy of the faithful has come true. Now, more than
ever before, this reporter knows the meaning of the informed
(Continued on Page 7)
The Wealth of a Nation
Lies hi Its Manpower
BEERSHEBA, Israel — The road to the Negev begins here. The
most serious challengos, involving perseverance and hard labor, are
in evidence here. There is no room for despair in Beersheba. The
strong survive, and only the strong seem to have come here. Else,
how could Beersheba itself have grown from a medieval trading
place of less than 5,000 12 years ago to a thriving community of
45,000 people today?
It is the area branching out of Beersheba that demands special
attention—the industries that have been established, the remarkable
roads that have displaced the caravan routes, the trek towards the
desert and the conquering of the desert.
The Zohar Gas Fields are of special significance. Israeli geolo-
(Continued on Page 5)