Information Issued by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain 8, Fairfax Mansions, Finchley Road ( Fai^&Xtoad ) London
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Vol. IV. No. 3 MARCH 1949 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN GREAT BRITAIN 8, FAIRFAX MANSIONS, FINCHLEY ROAD ( FAI^&XTOAD ) LONDON. N.W.3 dfict one ConMltint Hours: 10 ».in.—I p.m.. 3—6 p.m.. Sunday ID i.i».—i p.m. Ultfitnnt: MAIdi V>l« «0*« has been occupied by immigrants from xxerbert Ereedeti : Rumania, with a sprinkling of refugees from North Africa. Those who expected to find a village of the European pattem will be looking THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION in vain for gardens and fields. Ain Karem, like many other Arab villages, is an accumula Two years ago, some of the Jewish villages, I have seen the " Bulgaria " in Haifa Harbour tion of houses built on rocky slopes, and a sparingly spread throughout Palestine, were coming from Varna with 4,500 immigrants grove of olive trees is all that reminds of agri like islands within an Arab sea. Today, when aboard, 600 of them inmates of old age homes. culture. Occupational problems are tackled journeying through Israel, one has the im There was not a single suitcase in their pos by outside work and auxiliary farming. pression of the countryside being empty. session, they came literally with bundles in Orient Without Orientals True, the towns are crowded and humming their arms. The ambulances were waiting for Walking from Tel Aviv into Jaffa, one has with activity, but as soon as one leaves the the ailing; goods trains and buses for the associations of blitzed Berlin. There is suburbs and the dense settlement areas of the others to take them to the overcrowded Batei large scale destruction, whole areas are laid coastal plain and the Emek, the face of land Olim in the towns where they are to shelter flat and many a solitary house standing has changed. The picturesque scenes of Arab for a few weeks, or to the transit camps in among the ruins, is restored for human habi village life have gone, the familiar flocks of some of the larger villages. To hve in a hut tation. The transformation of the unscathed goats covering the mountain slopes have dis there means comfort, as many of them have districts into a Jewish town is an easier process appeared, one travels for hours without seeing to be camped in tents, andyet £10,000per day than its counterpart in the Arab countryside. man or beast. has to be spent on the Siaintenance of these It conveys something of the revolution which transit camps. After two or three months the has taken place in Palestine to see in the Arab The land appears empty and yet the ships immigrants are assigned their new homes. with newcomers are arriving almost daily. huts and houses Jews from Bulgaria and For the young and trained ones, of course, Rumania making their homes and opening agricultural settlement is the desired journey's their shops, changing the face of the HISTORIC DAYS end. The influx into the Communal Settle streets from Oriental bazaars into European ITH the election of Dr. Chaim Weizmaan as ments is enormous, and Kvutzoth which so far thoroughfares. Indeed, Israel is Orient WPresident of the State of Israel and the had maintained a " closed shop policy," that without Orientals, although the influx of Jews opening in the eternal city of Jerusalem of the Con is not extended their communities beyond a from North Africa which is as much as 15 to stituent .\ssembly, the first Knesseth Israel of our certain very limited number, have opened 20% of the immigration, might again change time, the new State leaves the dawn of provisional their gates and thrown overboard their the picture. To see an Arab nowadays in authority and enters into the broad daylight of selective principle. It seems that the Israel, is like seeing a Negro in London unless orderly democratic rule. In his opening speech, Dr. Kvutzah, the backbone of the communal you go to the Arab conclaves around Haifa, Weizmann proclaimed that on the fair and solid settlements, is fast disappearing and that where some friendly Arab villages remained foundation of freedom and equality, collective soon there will be only large Kibbutzim where untouched. Nazareth, the only town where responsibility and national self-discipline, an inde personal contact between the members is the Arabs have not fled, is a striking example pendent nation was dwelling in its own free country. loose. Their steady growth into villages with of the freedom the Arab minority is enjoying In his memorable address he spoke of this nation well over 1,000 or more inhabitants might, in under the administration of the Israeli army. as being conceived as " the ingathering of the exiles." the end, lead to a weakening of the very The town is as full of life as it ever had been, " In these short days, to our hearts' joy, thousands principles on which they are based. the cafes are crowded, the shops are busy, the and tens of thousands of our brethren from countries Who Is absorbing Whom ? little lanes are humming with activity and near and far are entering the gates of Israel, that the Arab guide who showed us the sights, stand wide open to receive them. It is our prayer At the moment, they have to use all their and hope that this ingathering of the exiles will strength to absorb the masses of newcomers exclaimed, " Now everybody is happy, continue on an increasing scale and will embrace and this applies, of course, to the whole Moslem, Jew and Christian, now everybody very large multitudes of our people who will strike country. In some places one is bound to ask can go to the holy places." roots here and will work side by side with us in " Who is going to absorb whom?" Will the the upbuilding of our State and in making our established Yishuv with its fine traditions be Wounded Jerusalem desolate places fruitful again." strong enough to absorb an annual influx of The new immigration had its most obvious The latest statistics show that the stream of 25% of its size ? Or will, in the end, the new impact on Jerusalem. As many as 20,000 of immigration into Israel from all corners of the earth comers mould social and communal life on a the former residents have left the new city, has taken on dimensions which were not dreamed of new and different pattern? Whatever the among them Jewish and British officialdom even some months ago. 23,000 had arrived in answer will be, the arrival of a non-chalutzic and the many students who have joined the October, 28,000 in November, 32,000 in December, aliyah of such an extent is bound to have its army, and the newcomers are of a different 30,000 in January and 27,000 in February; they impact on the social structure of the popula social strata. A grim reminder of past trials Were coming from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, tion. is the road to Jerusalem which is littered with Jugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, from Shanghai and burnt-out cars and trucks. There is an air of Aden and from the Moslem countries. The camps It is the non-chalutzic middle-aged and middle-class immigration which creates the neglect hovering over the city. One notices of Cyprus have been cleared, and 55.000 D.P.s from forcefully that she is no longer the country's the camps of Europe are on their way. This influx of thorniest problem. Though with the army still on a war footing, there is no unemploy capital. Jerusalem has lost her cosmopolitan 300,000 in a year, puts, of course, a great strain on appearance and sunk into the slumber of a the economy of the new State, as most of the immi ment, the housing situation has taken on a grants are destitute, and calls for the assistance of form which, for the time being, is seriously provincial backwater. Typical of the change world Jewry in absorbing this mass entry of refugees. delaying the integration of the newcomers. is Katamon, whose palatial villas are occupied by refugees from the old city; a new slum Recognition of Israel by 41 nations has made this 60,000 of them have been housed in aban co-operation much easier and Britain's de facto doned Arab villages and towns. district is rising in one of the former exclusive recognition of the new State has normalised the Ain Karem, near Jerusalem, the birthplace areas. There are large-scale schemes ready relations between this country and Israel. of John the Baptist, is a typical example. It to be put into operation in order to restore Continued on page 2 Pagei AJR INFORMATION March, 1949 ANTI-SEMITIC SPEECHES At Question Time on February 3 Mr. Bramall IN PARLIAMENT referred to three anti-Jewish meetings. In one case, alleged references to the Talmud were made, at ADMISSION OF GERMAN NATIONALS area, whose grandparents and parents were living in another meeting, the speaker of the Union Movement On February 8, Mr. Leshe Hale asked the Minister Palestine and cannot get visas even to come to the threatened that his Movement would start a bloody of Labour why German women can obtain per weddings of their daughters and grand-daughters. revolution, and in the third case the speaker praised mission to enter this country to work in domestic Asked by Mr. Janner whether the Home Secretary the extermination by the Hitler regime of the Jews. service, but are unable to obtain permission to enter would also grant facilities for students and merchants In his reply, the Home Secretary, Mr.