ABSTRACT
The subject was discussed at the beginning of the year, in a plenary session of the Jewish Agency in preparation for a joint meeting with the Israeli government. Eliyahu Dobkin, Chairman of the Agency’s organizing department, presented the plan due to be discussed at the joint meeting and declared that if the Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency were going to handle only fundraising, their organizations would gradually deteriorate. The only way to prevent this from happening, he said, was to secure relations with the state while maintaining the separate functions of each side. The Agency’s part, which would have legal status, would encompass immigrant absorption, capital investments, the promotion of tourism, and the development of Jerusalem. To give it substance on a practical level, the Chairman of the Agency Executive would regularly attend government and Knesset committee meetings handling vital, relevant issues. The discussion concluded with the decision to adopt Dobkin’s proposal and present it the following day at the joint meeting with members of the government.1
