Committee No. 3 -
Settlement as Zionist fulfillment

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 1

Submitted by Aharon Yadlin, Arieh Azulai, Michael Landsberg
World Labor Zionist Movement

Settlement and Development of the Country

1. The 34th Zionist Congress views the activity of the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, as well as that of the Israel Department of the Jewish Agency, as a blessing, and supports them. The Zionist Congress calls for the pursuit of this blessed activity for the reinforcement and fortification of settlement, as well as regional and rural activity throughout the areas of activity and in areas of national priority, in the Negev, in the Galil, in the Jerusalem Corridor, in the Iron Valley, and along the settlements of the seam-line, in the Jordan Valley and on the Golan Heights, in cooperation with the settlement movements and the settlers.

2. The 34th Zionist Congress instructs its representatives on the executive of the World Zionist Organization and in the institutions of the Jewish Agency to freeze the debts of settlements in peripheral areas as well as in areas of national priority, similar to the decision regarding the freezing of debts of settlements on the front line at the Lebanese border, thereby considering the burden of security, the economic and financial difficulties, the continuing drought and the drop in profitability of agricultural branches.

3. The 34th Zionist Congress demands the leaders of the World Zionist Organization and the leaders of the Jewish Agency to immediately remove all bureaucratic obstacles blocking the expansion of settlements in areas of national priority - to help develop and promote local and regional economic projects and to encourage the absorption of new settlers based on business initiative.

4. The 34th Zionist Congress calls upon the Jewish Agency to renew its relations of trust and cooperation with the settlers, settlements, regional councils as well as settlement movements, in order to bring settlement back to the focus of Zionist activity and the development of the land.

5. The settlement movements are the factor that has been working and continues to work toward continuing settlement, and they are the factor that represents settlement in Israel. The 34th Zionist Congress supports the leaders of the settlement movements, as well as their leaderships, and will work toward continuing cooperation with them, as well as toward coordination of activities regarding relations of trust and recognition of their contribution to settlement. The 34th Zionist Congress demands the leaders of the national institutions - at the World Zionist Organization, at the Jewish Agency, as well as at the Jewish National Fund - to cooperate with the leaders of the settlement movements, who represent the settlements and the settlers, and determine together with them a common policy and means of mutual co-operation.

Cont. Draft Resolution No. 3 / 1

Submitted by the Labor Zionist Movement

6. Planning, regional development, as well as the determination of a comprehensive settlement policy, budgeting and the setting of budgets, will be undertaken in coordination with, and the agreement of the settlement movements and their representatives in the national institutions.

7. The 34th Zionist congress suggests to establish a new organizational structure adapted to the new millennium, in order to strengthen, accompany, encourage and develop rural settlement in all regions of the land. For this purpose, the Jewish people in the Diaspora should be recruited with full cooperation regarding the realization of settlement, and become an active partner in the development of the land, in funding, populating, and in giving meaning to all the work of settling the land and developing it. It has been suggested to call the department for Israel the "Department for the Settlement and Development of the Land".

8. The 34th Zionist Congress will initiate, lead and manage the processes in the Israeli government, in the leadership of the World Zionist Organization, in the leadership of the Jewish Agency and its institutions, and in the Jewish National Fund, which will each separately, as well as together, work toward the promotion and realization of the following goals:

• Encouragement and provision of incentives for the establishment of new settlements in the Negev, in Galil, as well as in areas of national priority, in order to reinforce the Jewish presence in Israel's peripheries, and in order to ensure a Jewish majority in these strategic regions.
• Encouragement and provision of stimuli for the absorption of new settlers, mainly of a young population, in settlements located in regions of national priority, in the Galil, in the Negev, and in border and peripheral areas.
• Keeping land reserves and open territories, such as green areas, as a land reserve for coming generations, and as a contribution to quality of life and to the environment of the citizens of Israel. Creating conditions of protection, encouragement, and agricultural development as a branch, which helps safeguard land and ensures green lungs and environmental quality.
• Safeguarding and protecting the values of nature and history as a basis for education and for the internalization of the Jewish and Zionist heritage for the young generation, as well as for generations to come, in Israel and worldwide, as a focus of attraction for Jewish as well as world tourism. Develop and empower settlement and Zionist youth movements.
  Aid for cultural establishments, art institutions, as well as projects of perpetuity, with the aim of encouraging the young generation to stay and be absorbed in rural areas, as well as to attract creative artists and academics from population centers to rural areas.

Cont. Draft Resolution No. 3 / 1

Submitted by the Labor Zionist Movement

• Promoting the academic level of regional colleges, including the possibility of granting a master's degree.
• Increased security in the settlements along the seamline by building and maintaining effective means of protection against terror and hostile activity.
• Investments in economic enterprises in the settlements along the seamline, as well as the reinforcement of municipal and social systems for the proper establishment of settlements, in order to dissuade their residents from leaving, and in order to absorb new families and settlers in these settlements.
• Encouragement of the combined economic and social activity of rural, community and urban settlements in the fields of activity of the Jewish Agency, in the Negev, in the Galil, as well as in peripheral areas.
• Creating integration in the fields of education, culture, society and economy, as well as regional cooperation in municipal and other services between rural, community and urban settlements in the Negev, in the Galil, and in peripheral areas.

9. The Jewish National Fund

i. The Zionist Congress blesses the Jewish National Fund, its leaders and management, contributors and employees, on 100 years of productive activity.
ii. The Zionist Congress expresses its admiration and appreciation for the activities of the Jewish National Fund throughout the years of its existence and activity, and in all fields of its Zionist activity, educational and economic - the redemption of the land, and its reclamation and enhancement. The preparation of land for agriculture, settlement, and construction, forestation and planting and developing the environment, green areas, environmental and air quality, the establishment of parks, the preservation of nature, the creation of blazing roads and scenic routes from which to admire views, the rehabilitation of riverbeds, the repairing of environmental damage, the establishment of water reservoirs, help for the national, regional and local water enterprises; the development of agricultural research and supporting areas of research and development in different areas of the country; educational activity among young Israelis to promote love for the country, for its nature, and for its landscapes, as well as cooperation with world Jewry in all fields of activity of the Jewish National Fund, regarding funding, planting, education of young people, and the redemption of the land.
iii. Safeguarding and maintaining the land as the land of the Jewish people.

10. The 34th Zionist Congress will act in all centers of policy and decision making in Israel and in the Jewish world, in order to ensure the continuing activity of the Jewish National Fund in all fields of Jewish and Zionist activity, by publicly backing and encouraging its leaders and workers, and by recognizing its activity.

11. The Zionist Congress recognizes the value of redemption of the land, maintaining and safeguarding, developing and improving it as a basic value - the land, which is the land of the Jewish people. Accordingly, the 34th Zionist congress regards the independence of the Jewish National Fund and its independent management as the first and most important factor in ensuring these values. The institutions of the Jewish National Fund, their leaders and managers, must ensure that the land of the Jewish National Fund will be managed with no dependence on any factor, including the dissolving of the partnership with the Israel Land Administration, and that the land will be independently managed by the Jewish National Fund, as the private land of the Jewish people.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 2

Submitted by Solly Sacks
Hamizrachi, Hapoel Hamizrachi, Meimak, Gesher

Jewish settlement in the land of Israel represents the expression of the fulfillment of the Zionist vision. Therefore,

It is hereby resolved by the 34th Zionist Congress to encourage, cultivate, assist and strengthen Jewish settlement of all types, especially through the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 3

Submitted by Paula Edelstein
The New Faction

1. The Zionist Congress instructs its leaders in the World Zionist Organization and of the institutions of the Jewish Agency to operate within the institutions of the Jewish Agency, in order to ensure continuing and extended activities in the field of settlement, also after the year 2004. The aim of this activity is to strengthen, accompany, encourage and develop rural settlement in the Negev, in the Arava and in the Galil, whereby the Jewish people in the Diaspora should be recruited and made to actively cooperate in the act of settlement and development of the land, in funding and populating, so as to give meaning to each act of settlement of the land and its development.

2. The Zionist Congress demands the leaders of the World Zionist Organization and the leaders of the Jewish Agency to immediately remove all bureaucratic obstacles, which hinder the expansion of settlement in the regions of the Negev and Arava, the Galil and in the periphery - to help develop and promote economic projects, local and regional, and to encourage the absorption of new settlers based on business initiatives.

3. The Zionist Congress instructs its representatives on the executive of the World Zionist Organization and in the institutions of the Jewish Agency for Israel, as well as the Jewish National Fund, to lead and guide processes within the executive of the World Zionist Organization, the executive of the Jewish Agency and its institutions, and the Jewish National Fund, to initiate, lead and guide processes within the executive of the World Zionist Organization, in the executive of the Jewish Agency and its institutions, and in the Jewish National Fund, in cooperation with the Israeli government, so as to promote and fulfill the following goals:

i. Encouragement and stimuli for the absorption of new settlers in the Negev and Arava, as well as in the Galil.
ii. Encouragement and stimuli for the absorption of new settlers, mainly of the young population in settlements located in the region of the Negev and Arava, as well as in the Galil.
iii. To keep land reserves and open territories, to create green lungs, as a land reserve for coming generations, and as a contribution to the quality of life and environment of the citizens of Israel.
iv. Encouragement of combined economic and social activity among the rural, community and urban settlements within the field of activity of the Jewish Agency, in the Negev and Arava, as well as in the Galil.
v. To create integration in the fields of education, culture, society, economy, and local cooperation regarding municipal and other services, among the rural settlers and settlers in rural areas, as well as community and urban changes in the Negev and Arava and in the Galil.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 4

Submitted by Nadav Kidron
World Yavne

The Zionist Congress understands the importance of the settlement of young immigrants in Israel as part of the Zionist vision coming true,

The Zionist Congress encourages it, and is happy to see the organization of Aliyah groups of students and young people in the Diaspora.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 5

Submitted by Danny Dannon
World Likud

Upon the 100th anniversary of the activity of the JNF, the 34th Zionist Congress expresses its recognition of the activity of the JNF in particular, and of the project of settlement in general. Just as the fighters of Tel-Hai and the tip of Galil have determined the future of the state with their own flesh and blood, so are present-day settlers dealing with the development of the land, to strengthen our eternal hold of the Land of Israel.

The 34th Zionist Congress sends its greetings to all settlers from the north to the south, to the settlers in Judea and Samaria, and to all pioneers, who have settled in Kibbutzim, villages or cities.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 6

Submitted by Sheva Friedman
World Union of Meretz

1. The Zionist Congress reconfirms the centrality of agricultural Jewish settlement in the State of Israel as one of the main tools for the attainment of Zionist goals, as defined and determined in legislation, as well as in the Jerusalem Programme.

2. The Zionist Congress regards the settlements, the settlers, and the settlement movements as the backbone of the Zionist act regarding the settlement and creation of the State of Israel and the settlement of the Jewish people in its own land, and will act toward its promotion, development and proper establishment, while remaining aware of the rights of the settlers and their proper anchoring.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 7

Submitted by Sheva Friedman
World Union of Meretz

Assuming that in the Middle East, there will be a compromise regarding the West-Bank, that most settlements will be removed once a permanent agreement is achieved, and that the remaining ones will be concentrated in defined areas,

the Zionist Congress will need to instruct its Settlement Division to prepare for changes within the Division, and to transfer its investments into these defined areas, until the permanent agreement is reached.

Without financial supervision, no audit by the Comptroller of the Zionist Movement; without legal supervision, there will be no moral or legal justification for the renewal of the agreement between the Israeli government and the Settlement Division.

Draft Resolution No. 3 / 8

Submitted by Paula Edelstein
The New Faction

The Zionist Congress congratulates the Jewish National Fund, its heads and leaders, contributors and employees, on 100 years of productive activity.

The Zionist Congress expresses its admiration and appreciation for the activities of the Jewish National Fund throughout the years of its existence and activity, and in all fields of its Zionist activity, educational and economic - the redemption of the land, and its reclamation and enhancement. The preparation of land for agriculture, settlement, and construction, forestation and planting and developing the environment, green areas, environmental and air quality, the establishment of parks, the preservation of nature, the creation of blazing roads and scenic routes from which to admire views, the rehabilitation of riverbeds, the repairing of environmental damage, the establishment of water reservoirs, help for the national, regional and local water enterprises; the development of agricultural research and supporting areas of research and development in different areas of the country; educational activity among young Israelis to promote love for the country, for its nature, and for its landscapes, as well as cooperation with world Jewry in all fields of activity of the Jewish National Fund, regarding funding, planting, education of young people, and the redemption of the land.

The Zionist Congress recognizes the importance of economic viability in the regions of the Negev, Arava and the Galil, so as to ensure the continuing settlement of these areas.
The Zionist Congress thanks the Jewish National Fund for Israel for its contribution to the agricultural field of research and development, and calls upon it to increase its investment in this field, so as to help the settlers who must cope with extremely difficult conditions - lack of water, labor, limitations of climate and world competition that encourages agriculture in other countries.

The Zionist Congress recognizes the importance of the issue of environmental quality, and connects this issue to the values of Judaism and Zionism. The Zionist Congress thanks the Jewish National Fund for its contribution on this issue, and calls upon it to reinforce its activity in this field, by restoring riverbeds and rehabilitating environmental damage, by establishing secondary water reservoirs and creating parks and forests.