Herzliya Grammar School

1904

– A wave of pogroms swept along Russia (1903–1906) and the Zionists were forbidden to act. As a response to the aggression, thousands of people headed towards Israel and the second Alijah began (1904–1914), through which 40,000 atheist-socialist Zionist young Jews settled in Israel, filled with revolutionary ideas.

 

1905

– The first Hebrew grammar school was opened in Jaffa, the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. In 1905, to build a “Jewish socialist country”, the Zionist-socialist (Marxist) parties HaPoel HaTzair (The Young Worker) and Poale Zion (Workers of Zion) are established to create agricultural settlements in Israel. In the same year, the Bezalel Art School was opened by Boris Schatz in Jerusalem. In 1908, to help settlement, the predecessor of Sochnut was established in Jaffa.

HáSomér HáCáír

Technijón

1909

– Twenty Russian Jewish youngsters established the first permanent agricultural kibbutz in Degania. Parallel to the settlings, more and more atrocities occurred by the Arabs. Thus, to protect the kibbutzim, the first Jewish self-defense organization was established, the HaShomer (The Watchman). The first modern Jewish city was established the same year: Tel Aviv, while afforestation was in progress in many areas of the country. In 1910, the first irrigation association in Petah Tikva was established and in 1911, the Galilee workers found the Workers’ Organization of Galilee, and the Judean workers found the Agricultural Workers’ Organization of Judea. The first engineering college was opened in Haifa in 1912, the Technion which was inaugurated in 1924.

1914

– Outbreak of the First World War. More and more Jewish people joined the Zionists in the United States. Thus, the Zionist Organization formed a Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs in New York, led by Chief Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856–1941). At the time, around 2% of Israel was owned by Jews. The Jewish population was around 85,000 people, out of which 12,000 lived in agricultural settlements. Meanwhile, between 1914 and 1917, the Turkish military commander, Djemal Pasha (1872–1922), started to persecute and resettle the Jews. In 1915, the Jewish legion was created and named Zion Mule Corps which helped the British and French troops at Gallipoli.

Chief Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis

1917

– At Easter, the Turks expelled the Jews from Jerusalem and Jaffa, which also raised international public attention. On June 4, the French government declares sympathy, in which they support the “rebirth of a Jewish nationality” on the land of Israel. This was followed by the declaration made by Lord Balfour (1848–1930), the British Foreign Minister, on November 2, in which he said that Great Britain supported the goals of Zionists, and after the war they installed “a Jewish home” in Palestine. (These two declarations supported, with practical suggestions, the Congress speech of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States in 1918.) On December 11, the English troops marched into Jerusalem led by General Allenby (1861–1936).

Arthur Balfour British Foreign Secretary

Kibbutzim and settlements

There three main types of settlements in Israel:

A village (moshava) is a type of settlement in which the land is owned by an individual, the jobs are done partly by the owners, partly by paid Jewish or Arab workers.

In a cooperative village (moshav ovdim), the individuals own separate small holdings, family houses and farms. There, every family lives a separate life, but regarding supply, work, and sale, there is a close cooperation among the members of the community.

In communal settlements (kvutza and kibbutz), properties, life and work are all common. In these types of settlements, there are no paid employees, the income is divided equally. The clothes, equipment, wealth etc. are all common. The parents can only see their children a few hours a day, they are brought up in children’s homes. While the population of a kvutza is around 300 people, the population of a kibbutz is around 6-700, it is either an agricultural or an industrial settlement.

The communal settlements are originally established by Russian Jews with socialist ideas and they saw the realization of the socialist dream and the settlements as a utopia of communism. Sacrificing their lives for the community, they drain swamps, create fruitful lands, by making the whole country a kibbutz-network, they ground the modern agriculture, livestock breeding, and industry. With their commitment, they redrew the areas lived by the Jews and lay the foundations of Israel’s economy. The settlements need constant protection thus, HaShomer (The Watchman) is created which is the predecessor of the Israeli Defense Forces. These young Jews who are self-sacrificial, ready for everything, capable of giving up their lives and talents for their people, made it possible for the State of Israel to be born.

Kindergarten in the kibbutz

Women’s agricultural school, Nahá