The Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (), commonly known by its Yiddish acronym PICA (), was established in 1924. It played a major role in purchasing land and building Jewish settlement in Palestine and later the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

until the association disbanded in 1957. The Jewish Colonization Association (JCA or ICA) was founded by

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Baron

Maurice de Hirsch Moritz Freiherr von Hirsch auf Gereuth (; ; 9 December 1831 – 21 April 1896), commonly known as Maurice de Hirsch, was a German Jewish financier and philanthropist who set up charitable foundations to promote Jewish education and improve the ...

in 1891 to help

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

to settle in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

.Brandeis, 1973, p. 499. Pat Thane, ‘Hirsch, Maurice de, Baron de Hirsch in the Bavarian nobility (1831–1896)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 1 June 2007
/ref> Baron de Hirsch died in 1896 and thereafter the JCA began to also assist the Jewish settlement in Palestine. At the end of 1899 Edmond James de Rothschild transferred title to his colonies in Palestine, plus fifteen million francs to the JCA. In 1924, the JCA branch dealing with colonies in Palestine was reorganized by Baron de Rothschild as the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, with his son James appointed as president for life. Between 1895 and 1899, Rothschild's development agency and PICA planted Palestine’s first major forest in

Hadera Hadera (, ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon plain, Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5 mi) of ...

, primarily aiming to drain swamps. The developers sourced 250,000 eucalyptus seeds from

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, where French settlers had cultivated large eucalyptus forests. In the 1920s, the once-dominant eucalyptus trees were replaced by pine trees, which were hardy, fast-growing, and contributed to a more European-like landscape. After the 1929 Palestine riots, PICA extended its support beyond forestation, helping to rehabilitate agricultural colonies that had been damaged in the unrest.Avneri, 1984, p. 159. James de Rothschild, who died in 1957, instructed in his will that PICA should transfer most of its land in Israel to the

Jewish National Fund The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...

.Fischbach, 2003, p. 162. On December 31, 1958, PICA agreed to vest its right to land holdings in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

in the State of Israel.Fischbach, 2003, pp. 163-164.

References

Bibliography

*Avneri, Arieh (1984). ''The Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land-settlement and the Arabs, 1878-1948''. Transaction Publishers. * Brandeis, Louis Dembitz (1973). ''Letters of Louis D Brandeis''. SUNY Press. *Fischbach, Michael R. (2003). ''Records of Dispossession. Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict''. Columbia University Press. *Norman, Theodore (1985).
An Outstretched Arm: A History of the Jewish Colonization Association
'. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. *

External links

*Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs

18 October 1999, accessed 1 June 2007. *UNISPAL
Report on Immigration, Land Settlement and Development
Sir John Hope Simpson, Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, October, 1930. {{Authority control Zionism in Mandatory Palestine Zionist organizations Jewish organizations in Mandatory Palestine Organizations established in 1924 1957 disestablishments in Israel Edmond James de Rothschild

See also

References

Bibliography

External links