The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
As an organization, it encourages immigration of Jews in diaspora to the Land of Israel, and oversees their integration with the State of Israel. Since 1948, the Jewish Agency claims to have brought 3 million immigrants to Israel, where it offers them transitional housing in "absorption centers" throughout the country. David Ben-Gurion served as the chairman of its executive committee from 1935, and in this capacity on 14 May 1948, he proclaimed Israel's independence, following which he served as the first Israeli prime minister. In the years preceding the founding of Israel, the Jewish Agency oversaw the establishment of about 1,000 towns and villages in the British Mandate of Palestine. The organization serves as the main link between Israel and Jewish communities around the world.
By law, the Jewish Agency is a parastatal organization, but does not receive core funding from the Israeli government. The Jewish Agency is funded by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), Keren Hayesod, major Jewish communities and federations, and foundations and donors from Israel and around the world. In 2008, the Jewish Agency won the Israel Prize for its historical contribution to Israel and to the Jewish community worldwide.
History
Name Established as the () of the Zionist Organization in 1908, the organization became the Zionist Commission, then later the Palestine Zionist Executive. The body was designated as the "Jewish agency" responsible for coordinating the establishment of the Jewish National Home provided for in the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine, and was thus again renamed as The Jewish Agency for Palestine in 1929.League of Nations, Mandate for Palestine and Memorandum by the British Government Relating to Its Application to Transjordan, Approved by the Council of the League of Nations on September 16, 1922. Published in Geneva, Switzerland on September 2, 1926. Document # C.P.M 466 [C.529.M.314.1922.VI] [C.667.M.396.1922.VI]. Page 2, Article 4. Copy available upon request from the League of Nations Archives in Geneva. After the establishment of the State of Israel, it received its current name: The Jewish Agency for Israel.
1908–1928: Beginnings as an arm of the World Zionist Organization The Jewish Agency began in Jaffa in 1908 as the Palestine Office (Hebrew: המשרד הארץ-ישראלי, HaMisrad HaEretz Yisraeli; ), of the Zionist Organization (ZO) in Ottoman-controlled Palestine. It was headed by Arthur Ruppin and was founded as the operational branch of the ZO,Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism, p. 153 with its main tasks being to represent the Jews of Ottoman Palestine in dealings with the Sultan and other foreign dignitaries, to aid Jewish immigration, and to buy land for Jewish communities to settle in.
The Palestine Office was established under the inspiration of Theodor Herzl's vision for a solution to "the Jewish question": the issue of anti-Semitism and the place of Jews in the world. In his pamphlet "The Jewish State," Herzl envisioned the Jewish people settled as an independent nation on its own land, taking its place among the other nation-states of the world. The Palestine Office, which eventually became the Jewish Agency, was based upon Herzl's organizational ideas for how to bring a Jewish state into being.
The influx of Jews during the Second Aliyah (1904–1914) made the purchase of land particularly urgent. With the aid of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) (, Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael), the Palestine Office bought land for newcomers in two locations: Chavat Kinneret (near the Sea of Galilee), and Kibbutz Ruhama (near Sderot of today). Kibbutz Ruhama was specifically designated for Russian Jews from the Second Aliyah. Over the following decades, the Palestine Office established hundreds more moshavim and kibbutzimGordon, Hayim. Israel Today p157 and continued to purchase land together with the JNF.
With the outbreak of World War I, the anticipated disintegration of the Ottoman Empire raised hopes among Zionists for increased Jewish immigration and eventual sovereignty in Palestine. In 1917 the United Kingdom captured Jerusalem from the Ottomans, and in 1918 pushed the Ottomans out of the Levant entirely, and the region fell under British military rule. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire is dissolved and the League of Nations create plans for the administration of former Ottoman territory.
Following the promulgation of the Balfour Declaration, in which the British government promised to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish National Home in the region, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the British Zionist Federation, formed the Zionist Commission in March 1918 to go to Palestine and make recommendations to the British government.Plans Zionist Commission, The New York Times, Feb. 13, 1918 The Commission reached Palestine on 14 April 1918 and proceeded to study conditions and to report to the British government.History of Zionism, 1600–1918 by Nahum Sokolow Weizmann was instrumental in restructuring the ZO's Palestine office into departments for agriculture, settlement, education, land, finance, immigration, and statistics. The Zionist Organization's Palestine Office was merged into the Zionist Commission, headed by Chaim Weizmann.The Zionist Commission (Va'ad HaTzirim). Jewish Agency for Israel, archived on 02-10-2006
On 25 April 1920, the Principal Allied Powers agreed at the San Remo conference on the temporary administration of Ottoman territories by the victorious powers, and assigned Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq as Mandates to Britain. The League of Nations formally approved these mandates in 1922,The Palestine Chronicle: Palestine Through History: A Chronology (I) with the Balfour Declaration and the requirement to create a Jewish National Homeland being incorporated into the Britain's Mandate for Palestine. Article 4 of the Mandate provided for "the recognition of an appropriate Jewish agency as a public body for the purpose of advising and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of the Jewish National Home and the interests of the Jewish population of Palestine." In November 1921, the Zionist Commission became the Palestine Zionist Executive and was designated as the "Jewish agency" for the purpose of Article 4 of the League of Nation's Palestine Mandate.Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917–1925, Neil Caplan, London and Totowa, New Jersey: F. Cass, 1978.
In 1921 Ze'ev Jabotinsky was elected to the executive but he resigned in 1923, accusing Weizmann of not being vigorous enough with the Mandatory Government. Other issues between the Revisionists and the agency were the distribution of entry permits, Weizmann's support for the Zionist Labour Movement, and the proposal to expand the agency. The Revisionists broke completely with agency in 1935, but rejoined ZO in 1947. In 1951 the ZO/JA included all Zionist organizations except Herut.Caplan, Neil. "Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917–1925." London and Totowa, NJ: F. Cass, 1978
The Palestine Zionist Executive was charged with carrying out the duties of the ZO's former Land of Israel Office, namely: facilitating Jewish immigration, land purchases for Jewish communities, and planning the general policies of the Zionist leadership. It ran schools and hospitals, and formed a defence force, the Haganah. Chaim Weizmann was the leader of both the World Zionist Organization and the Palestine Zionist Executive until 1929.
Jewish Agency for Palestine 1929–1948
In 1929, the 16th Zionist Congress decided to restructure and the rename the Palestine Zionist Executive as The Jewish Agency for Palestine,Central Office of the Zionist Organisation, "Resolutions of the 16th Zionist Congress, Zurich, July 28 – August 11, 1929, with a Summary Report of the Proceedings," London, 1930. Viewed at http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=18204 on November 19, 2014. in reference to its role as the "Jewish agency" required by Article 4 of the League of Nations Mandate. The new Jewish Agency was larger to accommodate the growing logistical task of managing the Yishuv, and also included mandatory representation from non-Zionist Jewish organizations. The change was Chaim Weizmann's initiative, and was established on the principle of parity between Zionist and non-Zionist Jews working together in the building of a Jewish national home.
The 16th Zionist Congress determined that in the event of the future dissolution of the agency, the World Zionist Organization would replace it as representative of the Jews for the purpose of the Mandate.
Weizmann was criticized for being too pro-British. When the 1930 White Paper was published recommending restricting Jewish immigration, his position became untenable and he resigned from the ZO and the Jewish Agency. He protested that the British had betrayed their commitment expressed in the Balfour Declaration and that he could no longer work with them. Nahum Sokolow, who had been elected to succeed Weizmann, remained in his position. Arthur Ruppin succeeded Sokolow as chairman of the Jewish Agency in 1933 and David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Shertok joined the executive. In 1935, Ben-Gurion was elected chairman of the agency to succeed Ruppin.https://www.knesset.gov.il/vip/bengurion/eng/BenGurion Bioframe eng.html (Accessed 12 August 2013)
In 1937 The Peel Commission published its report into the disturbances of the year before. For the first time, partition was recommended. The 20th Zionist Congress, meeting in 1937, hotly debates the Peel Commission and the topic of partition. In a compromise, the Congress rejected the commission's conclusions, demanding a full realization of the requirements of the Mandate; namely, the establishment of a Jewish National Home throughout Mandatory Palestine. However, in a sign of reluctant openness to partition, the Congress also voted to authorize the executive "to enter into negotiations with a view to ascertaining the precise terms of His Majesty‘s government for the proposed establishment of a Jewish state." This decision revealed differences within the Jewish Agency, with some of the non-Zionist faction disagreeing with the decision and some calling for a conference of Jews and Arabs.
Non-Zionist representation The new body was larger and was required by its constitution for half of the members of its governing bodies to be made up of Jewish non-Zionist individuals and organizations. Many of the organizations were philanthropic rather than political, and while they were interested in Jewish immigration to the Yishuv, many opposed talk of a Jewish State.
There was strong opposition within the ZO when the idea of enlargement of the board of governors of the Jewish Agency was first raised in 1924 to include non-Zionist Jews, but the idea was accepted by the Zionist Congress in 1927.Ganin, Zvi. An Uneasy Relationship: American Jewish Leadership and Israel, 1948–1957 p. 20.
Even though non-Zionists took part in the agency, it was still closely tied to the Zionist Organization. The president of the ZO served as the chair of the Executive Council and the Assembly of the Jewish Agency, and the half of its membership that was designated for Zionists was selected by the ZO. The two bodies cooperated closely.Tessler Mark, A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, p. 194Resolutions of the 16th Zionist Congress With a Summary Report of the Proceeding. World Zionist Organization (WZO), 1929