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Wednesday, September 15, 2004
World Zionist Organization (WZO)
Introducing WZO: World Zionist organization is the international body that represented the Zionists, and took upon its shoulders achieving their goals. The organization was found by Theodore Herzl, an Austrian Jewish Journalist, who organized the Foundation Congress, the First Zionist Congress, in Basle, Switzerland in the year 1897, that declared the establishment of WZO. WZO was not the first Zionist body, but it was the most sophisticated, well-organized and most capable one that had succeeded, by the end of the day, to unite all the Zionist efforts under its flagship. Hibbat Zion (Lovers of Zion) was established before WZO, and pioneered the settlement activity in Palestine, but it was unable to become a pan-Jewish movement, Herzl had indeed, done nothing more than capitalizing on the efforts and ideas of this body, though in a much organized manner. Soon after the establishment of the WZO, all the branches of Hibbat Zion became members in the new larger organization.
WZO opened its doors for individuals and institutions, every Jewish individual who paid the Shekel (the name they gave for their membership fee) was eligible of membership, and of the right to be represented in the Zionist Congress. Each 100 members were represented by one envoy to this Congress that convened annually to take all the important decisions, including electing the organization’s president. Later on, with the growth of membership, the representation rules changed from one envoy for each 400 to one for each 2000, or one for 1000 of those living inside Palestine. Currently the membership is opened only to organizations and institutions, and no longer for individuals.
The Congress used to convene in centers of Jewish demographic concentration, in major cities like Basle, Hamburg, London, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, and finally in Jerusalem. The mode of communication initially was German, the language of most Jewish leaders, of whom very few spoke Hebrew, then an almost extinct language. The Congress convened every year, then every two years and finally every four years. Currently the Zionist Congress convenes only in Jerusalem once every four years, and the mode of communication is Modern Hebrew.
The first Zionist Congress, that declared the establishment of WZO, had also established the “Colonial Jewish Trust”, mainly from membership fees, contributions and donations, to provide funds for the Zionist colonial activities. Later, other financial bodies were established until a very complex system of interconnected large funds was established for the WZO.
The history of WZO is composed of two important phases. The first was before the establishment of the Zionist state “Israel” when it acted as a virtual government of the Jewish people worldwide. After the formation of the Zionist State, many Zionists, had, however, believed that the WZO fulfilled its mission and should be dissolved. But others maintained that while the “Israeli” government represents the Jews in Palestine, the WZO should continue to play the role of the representative of the Jews worldwide, and as such back up the efforts of the “Israeli” government. For some of its history, WZO was tied to another entity, the Jewish Agency, which was almost synonymous to WZO for most of the time. Most prominent figures of the WZO were Theodore Herzl, the founder, Chaim Weizman who reconciled political Zionism with Pragmatic Zionism in a trend known as Synthetic Zionism, and David Ben Gurion, the declared founder of “Israel”.
Structure of WZO: As we have seen, membership of the WZO, previously opened to individuals, is currently limited to organizations. Each organization should have at least 20,000 members to become a qualified member represented in the Zionist Congress, where seats are divided as follows: 38% for Zionist Organizations inside “Israel”, mainly “Israeli” political parties; 29% for the American Zionist Organization AZO, and the rest, 33%, for Zionist organizations around the world.
The Main administrative bodies of the WZO are:
1.The Zionist Congress: is the supreme authority of the organization. It was established in 1897 and initially convened annually, but later once every two years and now once every four years. Its permanent headquarter is in Jerusalem (Al Quds). The Congress had enacted the constitution of WZO, and is now the only qualified body to amend it. Members of the Congress are elected based on certain quota arrangement. Currently, every member organization chooses its representatives according to its own procedure. Until today, the Zionist Congress convened 32 times, 22 of them were in various European cities and, and the remaining 10, since the establishment of “Israel” in 1948, in Jerusalem (Al Quds). During difficult times, especially during the first and second World Wars, the congress was unable to convene regularly, but important decisions were still taken by whoever of the Zionist leaders that can be physically present. The two most important of those was the 1920 Conference of London that shifted the strategic attention of the Zionists from the Ottomans and Germany to Britain, and brought Chaim Wiezman to the Presidency of the organization, and that of Biltmore in 1942, which decided to have the U.S.A. as the new major ally. Baltimore conference had also succeeded in achieving reconciliation within the Zionist body itself, giving a strong momentum to the WZO.
2.The Zionist General Council: It carries on all the duties of the Congress when it is not in session, including important decisions and the supervision of their implementation. The Zionist General Council convenes at least once a year and is headed by a Presidium that convenes every 4-6 weeks. The General Council played a key role in times of war, and was the body that organized the Zionist Conferences.
3.The Zionist Executive Committee: It represented the Congress and the General Council, and formed the executive authority of the WZO. Before the establishment of “Israel”, this body acted as the government of the Jewish people around the world, and its members constituted the 1948 first “Israeli” cabinet. The Executive Committee was composed of 5 members during the time of Herzl, but progressively increased to 7, 15, 19, 26, and was finally standardized to 14 members in the year 1968.
Besides those bodies, the WZO elects a president, who used to be very influential during the early years of the WZO but his powers gradually eroded. Indeed, due to internal conflicts between the competing member organizations, no president was elected since the year 1968; and his duties are carried out by the Chief Executive of the Jewish Agency. (See the rest of the discussion on the Jewish Agency). The organization has a judicial body that decides on conflicts between its members and bodies as dictated by the constitution.
Fund arms of WZO: Since its establishment, WZO has seriously sought to have a strong economic base that was crucial for the realization of the Zionist dream. For this to be achieved, the following funds were established:
1.The Jewish Colonial Trust: It was the first and main fund established by WZO in 1897. Its revenue, mainly derived from membership fees and contributions, reached at that time a capital of 2,000,000 British pounds. Subsequently it was converted into a corporation that sold its shares to interested Jews. A branch of the corporation was established in Palestine, under the name of “Anglo-Palestinian Bank”. At the beginning, Herzl and his political Zionists viewed the fund as a tool of economic influence to secure international recognition, especially by paying the debts of the ailing Ottoman government. After the establishment of “Israel”, the trust has, however, been turned into the “Central Bank of Israel”.
2.The Jewish National Fund: It was established by WZO in 1901 to provide the necessary money for buying lands in Palestine. Its main source was charity paid by Zionists and Jews around the world. Lands purchased by this Fund were given the status of “public Jewish Property”, i.e. owned by the Jewish people around the world. These lands were registered under the name of the Fund, but should never be sold or forsaken. After the establishment of “Israel”, all the confiscated Arab properties were registered under this fund, and the allocation of land became a responsibility of the “Israeli” government, who, in turn, allocated 90% of the land to Jews and Jewish projects. Most of the lands owned by the Fund were confiscated lands. Since its establishment in 1901, and until the foundation of “Israel” in 1948, the Fund managed to buy 936 km2 only, about 3.46% of the land of Palestine, that was, however, bought from rich Lebanese and Syrian landlords and very few Palestinian families. Zionists never succeeded in peaceful acquisition of lands owned by Palestinians, all what they got from them was through operations of ethnic cleansing at the time of the 1948 war.
3.Palestine Foundation Fund: It is the most important and efficient fund arm of the WZO. It was established in London in the year 1920 to provide funds for activities and operations that aimed at the realization of the Jewish homeland in Palestine promised in the Balfour Declaration to establish a Jewish Home in Palestine, and for the construction of cities and settlements to absorb the incoming Jewish influx. This fund played an important role to establish Jewish institutions and workshops in the fields of industry, agriculture, culture, and social welfare, as well as facilitating migration. The Foundation Fund paid all the cost of transferring the Jews of Germany after WWII, provided most of the cost of the 1948 war, and funded the immigration of Jews from the Arab countries, Ethiopia, Russia, and the rest of the world, to “Israel”. It operates in 47 countries around the world, besides its branches in “Israel” and in the. U.S. The latter known as “The United Call of Israel”, actively cooperates with other American Jewish funds such as the “United Jewish Call”.
Trends inside WZO: Basically, the Zionist schools, discussed in the section on Zionism and Judaism, form the main trends inside the WZO, with the same names and titles recorded there: The labor or Mapai, the Revisionists or Hirot, now known as Likud, and the Religious school known as the Mizrahi. Besides these three important trends, there is the Confederation of United Zionists which maintains Herzl’s line of policy. It appeared as a response to the above political trends within Zionism, and propagates that the Zionists should stand united. Thus they do not recognize the above political organizations inside the Zionist body, and conceives itself as the main trend inside the WZO. Its arms include the “Development Projects Fund”, established in 1946, and the Women Zionist Organization of America, known as Hadassa. After the establishment of “Israel” they supported the aforementioned policy of interfering in the “Israeli” affairs on the grounds that “Israel” is the legitimate child of the Zionist Organization.
Brief History of WZO: In the early years after its establishment, WZO sought to establish itself as a pan-Jewish organization, and complimented the efforts of the Zionist pioneers, in an efficient manner. During its first years, the organization was headed by the political Zionists who strove, above all, to rally international support for any of its proposed settlement projects: Cyprus, Libya, northeastern Sinai, Uganda, and eastern Saudi Arabia at a later stage. Aside from Palestine, the project of Uganda was the most seriously entertained. Herzl, who got this offer of Uganda from the British government, threw his weight to its endorsement as better than nothing and as a first step. Herzl, however, died a year later, in 1904, and the project was ruled out on the advice of a special committee that reported the unsuitability of Uganda for Jewish settlement.
After Herzl, Political Zionism became less influential, and the Zionists strove to achieve their dream through active settlement in Palestine. This trend, known as Practical Zionism, established the Jewish National Fund and dedicated all its effort to settle in Palestine only. Its power and prestige increased within the Zionist Congress and, consequently, the drive for Jewish settlement in Palestine accelerated. Meanwhile, “Synthetic Zionism”, that was worked out by Chaim Wiezman to reconcile Practical Zionism with Political Zionism, emerged and became increasingly popular. It advocated that neither international recognition, nor the settlement activity should be the sole means for achieving the Zionist dream, rather, the Zionists should simultaneously intensify settlement to attract the attention of the world, and take concrete steps to secure international recognition. Synthetic Zionism had thus become the most prominent trend within WZO, and dominated it until the establishment of “Israel” in 1948.
When World War I erupted, the WZO was caught in a very critical situation, as it was, in essence, a pan-Jewish organization that had many branches spread across Europe. Its headquarters was in Berlin, while an important portion of its activity was conducted by its branch in London. Before World War I, many Zionists considered Germany as their main ally because it was supposedly as the only power that could persuade the Ottomans to accept the establishment of a Jewish Home in Palestine. At the same time, a minority of British Zionists, led by Chaim Wiezman, maintained that it was in the interest of their project to strategically ally with Britain, and they tried to lead the WZO into this position. The war deepened the rift between these two conflicting parties, but the Balfour Declaration was a decisive development in favor of the pro-British Zionists. Soon after the war, the headquarters of the WZO was moved to Britain and Chaim Wiezman was elected for the presidency.
The Balfour declaration stipulated that the British government would like to deal with a body that represent all Jews, which it called “The Jewish Agency”. To shape their organization up to the British demands, the Zionists established this Agency, and included non-Zionist Jews in it. However, the WZO controlled the Agency, and the executive committee and the presidency of both bodies were manned by the same people. Once the need for the Agency ended, the two bodies almost merged.
Britain gave full support to the project. However, under the pressure of the Palestinian Revolution of 1936-39, the British government issued the White Paper of 1939 that limited Jewish immigration and acquisition of land, and promised the Arabs to establish a Palestinian State after 10 years. The Zionists opposed this line of policy politically, and, sometimes, military. But they felt it wise to postpone their confrontation with Britain and fought beside it during WWII.
Again the War left the WZO in a difficult condition. However, its leadership met in Biltmore, U.S., and decided to shift their focus to the U.S. who, soon after the war, asserted political pressure on Britain to revoke the White Paper of 1939. And so was the case. The U.S. gave the Zionists huge financial aid and exerted enormous political pressure on member states of the U.N to pass resolution 181 that gave Jews the right to a state in Palestine. (See more on the White Paper and U.N. resolutions in the section of Peace Settlements).
The 1948 war erupted and a Zionist State, named “Israel”, was established. This was the most decisive event in the history of Zionism, and for many Zionists, WZO was no more needed.
Zionists were divided between two views. The first, led by the Zionists of Palestine under the Prime Minister of the new state, David Ben Gurion maintained that the main task of WZO was to create a Zionist State, and once this has been achieved, the new state should replace WZO in representing the interests of all the Jews around the world. They argued that the ultimate goal of all sincere Zionists should be migration to the newly-born “Israel”, and that a new body was then needed to facilitate this migration of all Jews, even those of the U.S. and the West. They looked down upon their opponents, and did not see in them true Zionists.
The Second opinion was championed by the above-mentioned Confederation of United Zionists, who argued that “Israel” was the legitimate child of WZO, and should thus remain subordinate to its patron. They did not see the establishment of “Israel” as the end of the way, and considered WZO to have a much more important task to do, namely to preserve the identity of the Jews around the world, and prevent their assimilation into local societies, which threatened the very existence of the “Jewish Nation”. Jews of the World still needed a body to represent them, which should not, anyhow, be a regional government like “Israel”, but an international organization like the WZO. Indeed, “Israel”, in their view, could not sustain itself without the support of the Jews of the world, whose existence around the world, especially in the West, was vital for the survival of “Israel” in that ocean of Arab and Muslim animosity around it.
Further, they did not regard the Jews of the Free World to be in the Diaspora, and thus need not to migrate to “Israel”. Being free from discrimination and oppression, they are entitled to voluntarily migrate to the land they like. This, coupled with many other trends, was, indeed, contrary to the Zionist myth of the eternal Jewish affection to the Promised Land. If this argument holds water, then why don’t the Jews of the West, who form more than half of the Jewish population of the world, migrate to “Israel”? Why is it that most Jews who migrated to “Israel” were compelled to do so under some political and economic constraints in the countries in which they lived (such as Poland, Germany after the war, Ethiopia and the USSR after the fall of communism)? They, in fact, had no other choice except to migrate. Indeed, of the 2,367,000 Jews who migrated from Russia after the 1880s aggressive anti-Semitic campaign, only 55,000 (2.32% only) went to Palestine and the rest headed to the U.S. and Western Europe.
In conclusion, the Zionists of Palestine, under Ben Gurion, emerged winners form this conflict. While not dissolving the WZO, they moved its headquarters to Jerusalem and made it subject to “Israeli” law. By then WZO has merely become an “Israeli” tool for rallying political support, especially through influencing the decision makers of the countries where Jews lived, to the Zionist State, and by supporting it financially and technically to absorb new immigrants.
# ANTENNA SHARON | 7:40:00 pm |
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