The Fourth Aliyah () refers to the fourth wave of the Jewish immigration to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

, mainly from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, between the years 1924 and 1928.

The character of the Fourth Aliyah

Starting around 1924 the character and the composition of the immigration to Palestine changed, and even though this immigration wave was very close to the previous immigration wave, it has been categorized as separate. That wave brought rapid urban development, particularly in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, which absorbed a considerable number of the immigrants. But during the years 1926–1927 an economic crisis occurred in the country, the toughest the Jewish settlement had during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine, and in spite of the economic comeback between the years 1928–1929, the crisis was identified with all of the period of the Fourth immigration. In the period of the crisis about 23,000 immigrants decided to leave the country. In February 1924 David Ben Gurion wrote in his diary: "The lack of work is ever increasing. Yesterday people were fainting in the office." Later in the year he noted "The people are hungry and cannot work." 7,400 Jews left Palestine in 1926. In 1927 the Zionist Executive funded an employment program for 8,000 workers. In 1928 emigration equalled immigration. In the fourth Aliyah about 80,000 immigrants came to Palestine, mainly from the countries of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

, half of the immigrants from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the rest from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. In addition to that 12% of all immigrants were from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, mainly

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

The causes for the immigration

The major push factors for Jewish emigration from Europe at this time were a rise in antisemitism throughout Europe and an economic crisis in Poland. With the passage of the

Emergency Quota Act __NOTOC__ The Emergency Quota Act, also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the Per Centum Law, and the Johnson Quota Act (ch. 8, of May 19, 1921), was formulated mainly in response to the lar ...

and 1924 Immigration Act in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, heavy restrictions on Jewish immigration were imposed. As a result, many Jews decided to move to Palestine instead. This group contained many

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

families which had engaged in business, industry, trade. They primarily moved to the growing cities, establishing small businesses and light industry.The Fourth Aliyah (1924-1928)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aliyah 4 Fourth Jews and Judaism in Europe Jews and Judaism in Mandatory Palestine 1920s in Judaism 1920s in Mandatory Palestine