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Buffalo Jewish Review · Buffalo, New York · 23 September 1927

CP-1927-027

To Raise $150,000 for Palestine in Twelve Days

Special Conference of United Palestine Appeal in New York Urges Redemption of Palestine Pledges

To Raise $150,000 for Palestine in Twelve Days — Buffalo Jewish Review, 23 September 1927
Buffalo Jewish Review · Buffalo, New York · 23 September 1927

Transcribed from the clipping

“Three hundred and fifty thousand in cash will be raised before the first of October for reconstruction work in Palestine and for the relief of unemployment, according to a decision made at a special conference of the United Palestine Appeal, held at the Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City, on September 18th… ‘Whereas, the Fifteenth Zionist Congress has emphasized the critical economic situation which exists in Palestine, and the necessity for immediate funds, to relieve unemployment, and otherwise aid the Jewish pioneers, and stressed the fact that workers in Palestine are in urgent need of the financial support which has been promised to them by American Jewry, on the basis of which they launched upon large undertakings…’ In an address delivered by Judge William M. Lewis of Philadelphia, national chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, he stressed the urgency of raising funds immediately for the Jewish workers in Palestine, and said: ‘There is still a considerable amount of unemployment accompanied by distress, in some cases acute, especially in the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa… The economic crisis in Palestine may be compared to a hole in a dyke. If the necessary measures are taken when the hole is small, comparatively little effort is required to make the well sound as ever, but should there be any delay, much more effort and energy and material will be required in the end.’ ‘It must be remembered that our aim of $350,000 for Palestine before the end of October is not based on additional contributions. All that is being asked is that Jews who promised money to Palestine during the past year should make good their promise at once, so that their share in the upbuilding of the national Jewish Homeland may achieve its greatest effectiveness.’… Another address was delivered by Morris Rothenberg… ‘Economy, so that the maximum could be achieved with the minimum of expenditure; consolidation so that the present colonies and other Jewish institutions in Palestine could be strengthened. Our work in Palestine for the next year, at least, must be that of preservation of all available resources, and we cannot afford to inaugurate any new enterprises.’ ‘There have been many occasions on which Zionists have been faced with more difficulties than they are at present, and these obstacles have always been overcome… The years gone by have been years of experimentation, and may have been costly, because of the newness of the project which we undertook… But the situation today is changed. The experimentation has been concluded. A rather accurate knowledge of Palestinian conditions has been attained, and what will be done in the future can be built on a more solid foundation… The purpose of the New York United Palestine Appeal Conference is to take immediate advantage of the opportunities offered for quick recovery from the economic depression which has gripped Palestine for the last two years.’”

Context added by this archive

The American answer to the crisis described from Palestine three months earlier in this archive. A hotel ballroom in New York, a resolution, and a target that is not new money at all: it asks only that people who already pledged should pay. The headline says a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the first sentence says three hundred and fifty thousand. One speaker calls the settlement project years of experimentation which may have been costly, and says no new enterprises can be started for at least a year.

Cite this item

"To Raise $150,000 for Palestine in Twelve Days," Buffalo Jewish Review, 23 September 1927. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1927-027. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1927-027

Elsewhere in the archive

This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American and Anglophone newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1812 to 2022. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.

The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the wire service that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. The city is derived from the masthead, not read off the clipping.

Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-1927-027.

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