World Zionist Organization; Jewish Agency for Israel

The Zionist Organization (ZO) was established in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress in Basel. Its aim was to form the framework of organised Zionism. The ZO was structured both horizontally and vertically: its members belonged to both countrywide organisations (such as the Belgian Zionist Federation), and Zionist unions organised by certain ideologies (Mizrachi, Poale Zion, Hashomer Hatzair etc.). Membership and voting rights were acquired by buying the so-called ‘shekel’. In 1960, the ZO changed its name to World Zionist Organization (WZO); membership was henceforth organised collectively instead of individually. The main organs of the WZO are the Zionist Congress (elected by its members), the President and the General Council. From its inception, the ZO was equipped with several instruments to fulfil its tasks, such as the Jewish Colonial Trust (as Zionist bank), the Keren Kayemeth Leisrael or Jewish National Fund (for the acquisition of land in Palestine), the Keren Hayesod or Palestine Foundation Fund (as its main fund-raising organisation) and the newspaper Die Welt. The Zionist Organization was recognised as the “Jewish agency” mentioned in art. 4 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (1922). The ‘Jewish Agency for Palestine’ (later Jewish Agency for Israel) officially founded in 1929 would become the executive arm and representative of the Zionist Organization; its principal role was to link the ‘National Home’ with world Jewry, and maintain relations with the British Palestine administration. Palestine Offices (Palästina Amt, Office Palestinien) – not to be confused with the Palestine Office in Jaffa founded in 1908 – in most European capitals functioned as Zionist “consulates”, charged with the administration of Jewish immigration to Palestine. The Agency also lobbied for more liberal immigration regulations in Palestine, negotiated the Haavara agreement with Nazi Germany, was responsible for the Youth Aliyah program etc. The Jewish Agency included non-Zionist delegates between 1929 and 1948, in order to be more representative of World Jewry. However, the Agency did not succeed in functioning independently of the ZO; both were synonymous in several periods (1922-1929, ca. 1942-1970). After the foundation of the State of Israel, many functions were transferred to the Israeli government, and in the 1950s a modus vivendi was agreed upon through laws and covenants between the Israeli state and the WZO / Jewish Agency. The WZO / Jewish Agency remained responsible for i.a. the absorption of immigrants from the Diaspora and the development and settlement of Israel, carried out by its various departments (i.a. immigration, Youth Aliyah, youth and Hehalutz, education and culture in the Diaspora, …). In 1969-1970, the structure and function of both organisations were once again separated (although common institutional connections continue to exist). The Agency was to mainly engage in “practical work” in Israel, while the WZO became responsible for various educational and organisational tasks in the Diaspora.