By 1958. the population had grown to 2.000.000 including about 1.800.000 Jews and 214.000 Arabs. No other country has grown so rapidly in an equal span of time. And the immigration has not ceased. Between 1957 and 1962 the Zionist leaders have planned to bring 600.000 immigrants to the Jewish homeland. The increase in the agricultural and industrial production has been an achievement second only to the population expansion. The Biblical landscape. where the "plants are an orchard of pomegranates. with pleasant fruits. spikenard and saffron. calamus and cinnamon. with all trees of frankincense. myrrh and aloes" had long ago disappeared. The countryside. which had reverted to desert land through the centuries. was barren and rocky. Except for the narrow strip along the seacoast. the land could not sustain many people. Although Israel was under the constant surveillance of the rifles of hostile neighbors. the Israeli Government instituted a vigorous development program to provide land and a place in the national economy for the unending stream of immigrants. Modern agricultural methods. equipment and education have been put to work to increase cultivated areas by nearly 300 percent. A national irrigation program. which will be completed by 1961. has already put 400 percent more land under cultivation.
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immigration immigrants