The 27th Zionist Congress, 1968. Part 1: Reports, Structure of the Congress

 The Twenty Seventh World Zionist Congress of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) was held in Jerusalem in 1968, and these two volumes contain a complete Arabic translation of the reports submitted by international Zionist organizations (originally in English), as well as the structure of the conference, its minutes, resolutions, and the obituaries of Zionist leaders who had died since the previous congress (originally in Hebrew). The volumes are divided into four sections: 1) Reports submitted to the Congress by 20 departments and organizations of the WZO between April 1964 and December 1967, activities of the Keren Hayesod-United Jewish Appeal, the Jewish National Fund, financial report, and the budge; 2) Structure of the congress; 3) Minutes of the 18 sessions of the Congress and its discussions; 4) Resolutions concerning the Zionist program; political issues; immigration and absorption; structure of the WZO; legislative issues; organizational issues; settlement; youth issues; education; financial matters; and elections and creation of the executive committee. The Twenty Seventh Congress was distinguished by the fact that it was held after the 1967 war and was convened to discuss its consequences, in addition to regular WZO business. The two issues of Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine took the lion’s share of interest, since the war had led to increased opportunities for fulfilling Zionist expansionist aims by redoubling plans for settlement in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai, and the Golan Heights. The principal issue before the Congress concerned the means of dealing with the assimilation of Jews in developed industrial societies, and the corresponding decrease in Jewish immigration to Palestine. The Congress established an “Immigration Movement”, whose nucleus consisted of the local Zionist organizations around the world. It also resolved that immigration and settlement would be the most urgent and central aims of the Zionist movement, and that the Israeli government would gradually take over issues of settlement and absorption. The Congress adopted a new program, which explicitly linked the recent expansionist occupation and the plans for immigration, absorption, and settlement. It resolved that: “The Zionist aims are: the unity of the Jewish people and the centrality of the land of Israel in the life of the Jewish people, the gathering of the Jewish people in its historic homeland by way of immigration from all parts of the world…” This volume contains three indices: speakers, topics, and a general index.