Zionist Commission

The Zionist Commission for Palestine was a group chaired by Chaim Weizmann, president of the British Zionist Federation following British promulgation of the pro-Zionist, Balfour Declaration of 1917. The Commission was formed in March 1918 and went to Palestine to study conditions and make their recommendations to the British authorities. The Zionist Commission, including Weizmann and Israel Sieff as secretary, reached Palestine on 14 April, 1918; but ran into difficulties with the British military administration, Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA), which was not sympathetic to Zionist aspirations. The Commission had gone to Palestine with the consent of the British Government and stayed there for some years.

The Commission carried out initial surveys of Palestine and aided the repatriation of Jews sent into exile by the Ottoman Turks during World War I. It expanded the Palestine Office, which had been founded by the Zionist Organization (ZO) in 1908, into small departments for agriculture, settlement, education, land, finance, immigration, and statistics.

In June 1918, representing the Zionist Commission, Weizmann traveled to southern Transjordan to meet Emir Feisal, during the British advance from the south against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The intended purpose was to forge an agreement between Feisal and the Zionist movement to support an Arab Kingdom and Jewish settlement in Palestine, respectively. Neither side considered it necessary to consult the wishes of the Palestinian Arabs.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Jewish community (the "Yishuv") had to deal with Arab opposition to establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine which was led by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni as early as 1920. He was active in both opposing the British in order to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab State, and led violent campaigns against Jews, including the 1920 Palestine riots, which took place in Jerusalem between 4 and 7 April 1920. Al-Husayni's demand that the Zionist Commission be disbanded and its leaders expelled was ignored by the British military administration. The Yishuv held elections for the Assembly of Representatives on 19 April 1920. The Palin Report 1920 on the April riots, submitted in August 1920, though never published, was critical of both sides. By the time the Report was presented, the British OETA had been replaced by a High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel. Weizmann became president of the Zionist Organization in 1920. Also in 1920, Menachem Ussishkin (who had made aliyah to Palestine in 1919) was appointed head of the Zionist Commission.

Further rioting took place in Jaffa between 1 and 7 May 1921. In October 1921, the Haycraft Commission of Inquiry laid the blame for the Jaffa riots of May 1921 on the Arab community, but otherwise the report was not acted upon.

In 1921, the Zionist Commission became the Palestine Zionist Executive, which was designated the Jewish Agency for the purpose of Article 4 of the Palestine Mandate, to advise the British mandate authorities on the development of the country in matters of Jewish interest. In 1929, the Palestine Zionist Executive officially became the Jewish Agency for Palestine at the 16th Zionist Congress, held in Zurich.