B"H

Authentic historical insight to Zionism

The Second, Third, and Fourth Zionist Congresses.

The First Congress did not disperse with­out having created a permanent organisation. It elected a Great Council (Grosses Actions Committee), on which all countries with a considerable Jewish population are repre­sented, and which moreover appointed a permanent Executive, with its seat in Vienna, under the presidency of Herzl. It was followed in the three succeeding years by three further Congresses: in 1898 and 1899 again in Basle, and in 1900 in London. The number of members increased in1898 to 280, in 1899 to 370, and in 1900 to 420. At each, succeeding Congress the rules of election were administered more strictly, the mandates were examined more rigorously, and at the present time the Congress, which has become a permanent institution of Zionistic Jewry and which assembled in December, 1901, for the fifth and in July, 1903, for the sixth time, again in Basle, can rightly claim to form the actual representation of its 180,000 electors.

A consideration of the following facts will show what the Jews represented at the Congress have already done to carry out the Zionist programme formulated by the First Congress.

" 1. To promote the settlement in Palestine of Jewish agriculturists, handicraftsmen, industrialists, and men following professions."

Preliminaries for a systematic settlement in Palestine.

Zionism refuses on principle to assist in petty colonisation or surreptitious entry into Palestine. Zionists have accordingly restricted themselves hitherto to the zealous and unwearying advocacy of the already existing Jewish colonies in Palestine before their quondam supporters, who lately showed a disposition to withdraw their aid from them; to taking preliminary measures for the founding of manufactories in the Holy Land, which should give employment to the Jewish labourers on the spot; and to assuring, by means of an annual subvention, the continued existence of the model Hebrew school at Jaffa, which had been compelled to close for lack of funds. They are anxious that the present promising factors of Jewish colonisation should be fostered and preserved until the settlement of Palestine on a comprehensive scale is possible. They have opened a bank under the name of The Anglo-Palestine Company with head office at Jaffa and a branch establishment at Jerusalem.

"2. To centralize the Jewish people by means of general institutions agreeably to the laws of the land."

Previous page Next Page