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Israelportal |
Elections to the Assembly of Representatives of Mandatory Palestine were held on 2 August 1944. [1] Just over 200,000 Jewish residents voted, more than 70% of all those eligible to vote. This compared with just over 50,000 who voted at the previous elections in 1931. The difference reflected the high level of Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s.
A total of 24 parties contested the elections, nominating 1,694 candidates. [1] However, the Revisionist-Zionist Hatzohar party, Sephardic Bloc, the General Zionist Group “B” and the Jewish Farmers Association boycotted the elections. [2]
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mapai | 73,122 | 36.85 | 64 | |
Left Bloc (Hashomer Hatzair–Poale Zion Left) | 24,582 | 12.39 | 21 | |
New Aliyah Party | 21,279 | 10.72 | 19 | |
Hapoel HaMizrachi | 18,748 | 9.45 | 16 | |
Ahdut HaAvoda | 17,928 | 9.04 | 16 | |
Mizrachi | 6,513 | 3.28 | 7 | |
Yemenite Association | 5,019 | 2.53 | 4 | |
Democratic Centre | 4,704 | 2.37 | 4 | |
Women's International Zionist Organization | 4,314 | 2.17 | 4 | |
Palestine Communist Party | 3,780 | 1.90 | 3 | |
Maccabi | 3,718 | 1.87 | 3 | |
HaOved HaTzioni | 3,685 | 1.86 | 3 | |
Independent Religious List | 3,118 | 1.57 | 2 | |
Merchants | 1,673 | 0.84 | 2 | |
People's Movement for a Jewish State | 1,418 | 0.71 | 1 | |
Mizrachi Women | 1,217 | 0.61 | 1 | |
Yemenite Workers | 957 | 0.48 | 1 | |
HaOved HaDati | 790 | 0.40 | 0 | |
Discharged Soldiers and Families | 666 | 0.34 | 0 | |
Oriental Religious Group | 543 | 0.27 | 1 | |
Young Men of Aden | 264 | 0.13 | 0 | |
Bnei HaYishuv | 240 | 0.12 | 0 | |
National Workers Front | 118 | 0.06 | 0 | |
Religious Women Workers | 30 | 0.02 | 1 | |
Total | 198,426 | 100.00 | 173 | |
Valid votes | 198,426 | 98.78 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 2,455 | 1.22 | ||
Total votes | 200,881 | 100.00 | ||
Source: Palestine Post |
Around 80% of the elected Assembly members supported the Biltmore Declaration, which demanded the creation of a "Jewish Commonwealth" after World War II. [2]
Zionism is a nationalist movement that emerged in the 19th century to espouse support for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. Following the establishment of Israel, Zionism became an ideology that supports "the development and protection of the State of Israel".
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Resolution 181 (II).
Yishuv, Ha-Yishuv, or Ha-Yishuv Ha-Ivri denote the body of Jewish residents in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 25,000 Jews living in that region, and continued to be used until 1948, by which time there were some 630,000 Jews there. The term is still in use to denote the pre-1948 Jewish residents in Palestine, corresponding to the southern part of Ottoman Syria until 1918, OETA South in 1917–1920, and Mandatory Palestine in 1920–1948.
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The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress and World Zionist Organization (WZO), respectively. The World Zionist Organization elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency, including "determining the allocation of funds." The first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. Any Jew over age 18 who belongs to a Zionist association is eligible to vote, and the number of elected delegates to the Congress is 500. 38% of the delegates are allocated to Israel, 29% to the United States of America, and 33% to the remainder of the countries of the Diaspora. In addition there are about 100 delegates which are appointed by International Organizations affiliated with WZO.
Hatzohar, full name Brit HaTzionim HaRevizionistim, was a Revisionist Zionist organization and political party in Mandatory Palestine and newly independent Israel.
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Sephardim and Oriental Communities was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the Likud party.
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