ZIONIST IMMIGRATION POLICY PUT TO THE TEST.

This article tackles the multifaceted question of why Israel adopted an open immigration policy in 1948 and adhered to that policy in spite of the proven difficulties it inflicted on the state. The main supposition made is that the immigration policy of the young State of Israel did not constitute a drastic change from earlier Zionist approaches and practices. It was, rather, the implementation of Zionist policy that emerged in the 1930s and heightened in the 1940s, but could not be carried out as long as the Zionist Organization lacked sovereignty and the British controlled the gates of Palestine. The article elaborates on the motivation for the futile attempt made at the end of 1951 to employ some measures of regulation in immigration. It suggests that they stemmed not only from the lessons of the mass immigration of 1948-1951, but also from the fact that in late 1951 the Jewish people and Zionism were not suffering a period of national emergency as the very existence of Israel was no longer in jeopardy and no Jewish community around the world was under acute threat. Finally the article interprets the criticism of the attempts at regulation as utilizing a Zionist rationalization, expecting Israel to act differently from other immigrant states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]