THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Project Renewal Must Re-Define
Program Goals to Meet Finances

By GIL SEDAN

[

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Two and a half years after
Project Renewal was born,
it now undergoes "plastic
surgery," which — the sur-
geons claim — will give it a
beautiful new face.
The project has already
left behind the days in
which there was money in
the bank, and one did not
know what to do with it. It
Th now faces the more familiar
situation in which there is a
detailed working plan, but
there may not be enough
money to implement it.
We started 21/2 years ago
as a partnership between
the government and the
Diaspora," recalls David
Hersch, national director of
Project Renewal in the U.S.
"The purpose was to re-
habilitate neighborhoods in
Israel which have been un-
able to join the mainstream
of the Israeli society, a re-
habilitation process which
should have been taking
place both socially and
physically."
The project was am-
bitious. The original
plans called for the re-
habilitation of 160 de-
prived neighborhoods in
Israel, involving 300,000
people. The original sum
which was to be raised
for this purpose was $1.2
billion, out of which $400
million should have been
raised in the U.S. — and
the rest by the rest of the
world Jewry and the Is-
rael government. The
money was to be raised
above and beyond the
regular pledges to the
United Jewish Appeal
and Keren Hayesod. It

was hoped that within
five years, the social gap
in Israel would suffer a
major blow.
Reality was less rosy.
Until now American Jewry
has pledged some $95 mil-
lion. Plans for the foresee-
able future relate only to 70
neighborhoods. The finan-
cial needs to rehabilitate
these neighborhoods are es-
timated at $350 million.
Thus, there is still a wide
gap between the needs and
the pledges, not to speak of
cash.
Yehiel Admoni, the new
director general of the Proj-
ect Renewal department of
the Jewish Agency, says
that this fiscal year is in ef-
fect only the second year of
the project, which means
that the project will not be
completed before 1985,
three years beyond the orig-
inal intentions.
Admoni set up several
principles, which he says
are conditions for the suc-
cess of the project. Top on
his list is the economic ad-
vancement of the inhabi-
tants in the deprived
neighborhoods. "Unem-
ployment and low income
can kill the project," Ad-
moni warns.
Also high on his list is
communal participation.
No more exclusive re-
liance on the political
representatives of the in-
habitant people in the
municipalities.
The third key to success,
according to Admoni, is
greater involvement by
Jewish communities abroad
which adopt specific
neighborhoods in Israel.

Israel Drone: Shot Down
or Felled by Technical Fault

TEL AVIV (JTA). — A
pilotless plane was downed
while on routine recon-
naissance flight over Leba,
non Tuesday, due to a tech-
nical fault, the Israel army
spokesman said.
The Syrians said the
drone was shot down, but
the army statement con-
tradicts this claim.
It was the fifth pilotless
aircraft lost chiring flights
over Lebanon and Syria
since the Syrian missile
crisis began early this year.
The Israel Air Force
has been making more
frequent use of Israeli-
made pilotless planes re-
cently. Their use reduces
,the danger of loss of life

Israeli Students
Camp in Poland

JERUSALEM (JNI) — A
delegation of four Israeli
schoolchildren left Israel
last week to attend an in-
ternational youth camp in
Poland.
Invited by the Janusz
Korczak Society, the youths
spent a week in the Silesian
Camp and will visit Au-
schwitz, Treblinka,
Maidanek and Krakov be-
fore they return.

and their cost is far less
than that of regular man-
ned aircraft.
Meanwhile, army sources
said they had no informa-
tion to confirm reports by
Christian Phalangist radio
stations in Beirut that the
Syrians had moved their
SAM-6 missiles away from
the Zahle area of Lebanon.

New Coalition
on Middle East

NEW YORK — Several
New York Jewish groups
have formed the Coalition
for a Sound Middle East Pol-
icy, and have urged
President Reagan to recon-
sider the proposal to sell
Saudi Arabia AWACS sur-
veillance aircraft and
enhanced equipment for
F-15 fighter-bombers. •
The new coalition in-
cludes the Jewish Political
Caucus, the Queens Politi-
cal Caucus, Americans for a
Safe Israel, Concerned
Jewish Youth, United
Zionist Revisionists of
America and the World
Organization of Jews from
Arab Countries.
Its office is at 147 East
76th Street, New York,
N.Y. 10021.

"World Jewry now be-
lieves that the project can be
implemented," says Ad-
moni, "although due to the
credibility problem of the
past, we still have difficul-
ties in opening faucets."
"The atmosphere in the
neighborhoods themselves
changed completely," adds
Hersch. "In a few months,
people started to believe in
the project. We have
reached a point where the
pledges can meet the needs.
The next six months to a
year will determine the fate
of the project." The national
UJA has reorganized the
department responsible for
raising the funds, and Proj-
ect Renewal is now at the
top of its priority list."
"There is no doubt that
the project will prove suc-
cessful," says Admoni,
"provided that the people
will have sufficient aid to
pull through."

•

When God is happy, He
creates good things; when
He is angry, bad and injuri-
ous things are created. Look

down there into the valley;
corn in the fields, bread for
man, grass, trees, flowers.
When God is happy, the

Friday, July 10, 1981

fields give .good crops and
the trees are laden with
fruit. The flowers are born
of God's laughter.

0Coof

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