Constitution of Jewish Agency As Drafted by Zionist Executive Made Public

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The draft of a constitution for the enlarged Jewish Agency, submitted by the Zionist Executive to the Zionist General Council when it met in Berlin last December, was published in the February issue of “The Vanguard,” a New York Jewish monthly published in English under the editorship of Isaac Zaar. The journal is considered the organ of the Zionist labor groups in the United States.

The document, which was the subject of discussion at the Berlin session of the Zionist General Council, has not previously been made public, nor was there any announcement made as to the decision taken by the General Council with regard to the draft. The contents of this draft were, however, the subject of wide conjecture and discussion in the Palestinian and Zionist press.

When interviewed by the representative of the “Jewish Daily Bulletin,” the editor of “The Vanguard” stated that the text published is the authentic English version submitted by the Executive. The draft reads in full as follows:

The Constitution of the enlarged Agency must necessarily form the subject of negotiations between the Zionist Organization and the “non-Zionists.” It will be incumbent upon the Executive to do their best to give effect to the instructions of the General Council, and the accompanying memorandum sets forth their views as to what these instructions should be. It will, however, be realized that, in view of the variety and complexity of the technical questions involved, it will be necessary for the General Council, having indicated the lines on which it desires the negotiations to be conducted, to leave it to the Executive to secure the best results obtainable in the light of the exchange of views which will follow between the Zionist Organization and representatives of the “non-Zionist” groups.

It will be observed that certain of the recommendations of the Executive deal with questions which, though arising out of the reconstitution of the Agency, concern the Zionist Organization, as distinct from the enlarged Jewish Agency. A case in point is that of the recommendation in which the Zionist members of the Council of the Agency are to be appointed. This and other matters of internal Zionist policy are not within the scope of the Constitution of the Agency, but they are, neverthless, relevant and important enough to make it desirable to submit proposals with regard to them. In the accompanying memorandum the recommendations in question are distinguished by an asterisk.

1. ORGANS OF THE AGENCY

The Organs of the Jewish Agency for Palestine shall be: (a) The Council; (b) The Standing Committee; (c) The Executive.

2. THE COUNCIL

i) The supreme governing body of the Jewish Agency shall be the Council, which shall be the final authority in all matters within the scope of the Agency.

ii) The Council shall meet biennially. Arrangements shall be made by which the Council of the Agency and the Zionist Congress shall meet in the same place and the meeting of the Council shall immediately follow the close of the Congress. An emergency meeting of the Council may be convened either by the Standing Committee or by the Executive, should special circumstances at any time necessitate this.

(iii) The Council when complete, (Continued on Page 3)

(iv) The members of the Zionist Executive and the members of the General Council (both of which bodies shall continue to be directly elected by the Zionist Congress), shall be exofficio members of the Zionist section of the Council of the Agency. Any (##) still remaining, up to a (##) of ten, shall be filled by the Congress from a list of nominees to be (##) by the incoming Executive. Any further vacancies shall be filled by persons to be directly elected by the Congress in such maner as it may think fit. (##) The membership of the “non-Zionist” section of the Council shall be distributed in accordance with the following Table, which has been compiled on the principles explained in Part II of this memorandum:

PROPOSED DISTRIBUTION OF ONE HUNDRED “NON-ZIONIST” SEATS ON AGENCY COUNCIL

U. S. A. 40; Poland, 12; Great British, 6; Canada, 1; South Africa, 1; Palestine, 2; Germany, 5; Roumania, 5; Austria, 2; Czechoslovakia, 2; France, 2; Belgium, 1; Holland, 1; Italy, 1; Lithuania, 1; 17 other countries or groups of countries, 17.

(vi) The provisional allotment of seats on the “non-Zionist” section of the Council shall be brought before the Council for confirmation at its first meeting and the allotment shall, at any time thereafter, be open to revision by the Council.

(vii) The Council shall not be convened until the Zionist Organization shall have been notified of the appointment of not less than six “non-Zionist” delegations, with a total membership of not less than sixty-five.

(viii) While the minimum number of countries to be represented on the “non-Zionist” section of the Council is fired at six, every effort shall be made to ensure that the first meeting of the Council shall contain representatives of as huge a number of communities as possible.

1 THE STANDING COMMITTEE

i) The Standing Committee shall be a body intermediate between the Council and the Executive of the Agency, and occupying a place in the Agency amlogous to that occupied by the General Council in the Zionist Organization.

(ii) The Standing Committee shall meet not less than twice a year. The Chairman of the Standing Committee, a consultation with the President of the Agency, shall be empowered to convene an emergency meeting of the Committee at any time, should special (##)stances necessitate this.

(m) The Standing Committee shall have a membership of forty, divided aqully between representatives of the Zionist Organization and of the “non-Zionists.” In addition the members of the Executive of the Agency shall be ex-officio members of the Standing Committee.

*(iv) The Zionist members of the Standing Committee (apart from the Executive) shall be appointed by the Zionist members of the Council of the Agency from among their own number.

(v) The “non-Zionist” members of the Standing Committee shall similarly be appointed by the “non-Zionist” members of the Council of the Agency from among their own number.

4. THE EXECUTIVE

(i) The Executive shall be the body conducting the day-to-day business of the Agency, and shall occupy a place in the Agency analogons to the place occupied by the Zionist Executive in the Zionist Organization.

(ii) The Executive shall be divided into a Palestinian section, with its seat in Jerusalem, and an extra-Palestinian section, with its seat in London.

(iii) Subject to the proviso that the seat of the Political Department of the Agency shall be in London, the distribution of functions between Jerusalem and London shall be decided by agreement between the Palestinian and extra-Palestinian sections of the Executive, subject to reference to the Standing Committee, or-in case of need-to the Council of the Agency, in case of any irreconcilable difference of opinion. Any matter concerning both sections of the Executive shall be disposed of by consultation between them subject, in the same manner, to reference to the Standing Committee, or-if necessary-to the Council, in case of any irreconcilable disagreement.

(ix) The Executive of the Agency shall ordinarily sit in Jerusalem or in London as the case may be, but it shall be empowered, in special circumstances, to meet in any other place which it may think convenient.

(v) The membership both of the Palestinian and the extra-Palestinian sections of the Executive shall be equally divided between representatives of the Zionist Organization and of the “non-Zionists.”

*(vi) The Zionist Executive shall form the Zionist section of the Executive of the Agency.

(vii) The “non-Zionist” members of the Executive of the Agency shall be elected biennially by the “non-Zionist” section of the Council of the Agency, the “non-Zionist” section of the Standing Committee having power to fill casual vacancies.

(viii) The Executive of the Agency may include members not permanently resident either in Jerusalem or in London, provided that no meeting of the Executive shall be held without the personal presence of a specified number of members to be fixed by the Constitution.

(ix) The Palestinian section of the Executive shall consist of eight per (Continued on Page 4)

(x) The whole Executive, including both Zionist and “non-Zionist” members, will be collectively responsible to the Council of the Agency, or to the Standing Committee, as the case may be, but the power of expressing disapproval by a change of personnel will rest with the Zionist Organization in the case of the Zionist members of the Executive, and with the “non-Zionist” section of the Council in the case of the “non-Zionist” members of the Executive.

(xi) The administrative expenses of the Agency, both in Jerusalem and in London, shall be defrayed from Agency funds, provided, however that the remuneration of salaried members of the Executive shall be wholly or partly defrayed, in the case of Zionist members by the Zionist Organization, and in the case of the “non-Zionist” members, by the “non-Zionists.”

*(xii) The Central Office of the Zionist Organization in London shall continue to be maintained, under the direction of a member or members of the Zionist Executive, for the purpose of dealing with work of a distinctively Zionist character, which will not come within the scope of the Agency, as, for example, organization, cultural work, and Zionist propaganda. The Central Office of the Zionist Organization shall be kept distinct from the London Office of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and its administrative expenses shall be defrayed from Zionist funds.

5. METHODS OF VOTING

(i) A member of either the Zionist or the “non-Zionist” section of the Council or of the Standing Committee of the Agency, if unable to be personally present at a meeting, shall be entitled either

A) to authorize one of his colleagues to vote on his behalf, or

B) to be represented by a deputy; and a member of either the Zionist or the “non-Zionist” section of the Executive of the Agency shall be entitled to authorize one of his colleagues to vote on his behalf, provided that

1) The right of voting by proxy as under (A) above shall be subject to the limitation that no member of the Council or of the Standing Committee shall be entitled to cast more than four votes in all, including his own.

2) The right of representation by a deputy, as under (B) above, shall be limited as follows:

(a) The deputy must be selected from a list of deputies approved by the same body by which the absent member was himself appointed.

(b) The rule limiting the number of votes which may be cast by any one person shall apply to deputy-members as well as to members.

6. THE KEREN HAYESOD

(i) The whole of the proceeds of the Keren Hayesod shall be placed at the disposal of the Agency.

(ii) The formal constitution of the Keren Hayesod shall not be changed, but the control of the enlarged Agency shall be secured by an agreement by which the Zionist Executive will bind themselves to nominate as the Directors of the Keren Hayesod such persons as may be selected by the Executive of the Jewish Agency, the Zionist and “non-Zionist” sections of the Executive voting together.

(iii) The Directors of the Keren Hayesod need not necessarily be identical with the members of the Executive of the Agency, but at least one of the Palestine members of the Executive of the Agency shall be given a seat on the Board of the Keren Hayesod.

(iv) The organization and activities of the Keren Hayesod in individual countries shall not be dealt with in the Constitution of the Agency, but shall be left to be settled in each case in accordance with local conditions.

7. THE KEREN KAYEMETH LEYISROEL

(i) The Keren Kayemeth shall remain a Zionist institution and shall not be under the control of the Agency, except in so far as it may be entrusted with the expenditure of Agency funds, as distinct from its own separate resources, in accordance with the proposals contained in paragraph 2 of Mr. Marshall’s letter of November 20, 1928, to Dr. Weizmann, the effect of these proposals being that lands thus purchased shall be held by the Keren Kayemeth as the inalienable property of the Jewish people, but that the use to be made of them shall be subject to the approval of the Agency.

(ii) The Constitution of the Agency shall provide, in accordance with Mr. Marshall’s proposals, that such purchases of land as may be made from Agency funds, shall be made through the medium of the Keren Kayemeth, provided that this shall not be deemed to prevent the Agency from investing a part of its funds in any corporation established, or hereafter to be established, for the purpose of facilitating the purchase of land in Palestine by private individuals.

8. PROVISORIUM

With reference to the resolution adopted by the Fourteenth Zionist Congress, requiring the inclusion in the Constitution of the enlarged Agency of a provision to the effect that such Constitution shall be in force, in the first instance, for a period of three years only, the Congress shall be invited to rescind this resolution, and to substitute the safeguard proposed in the memorandum annexed to Mr. Marshall’s letter to Dr. Weizmann of November 20, 1928, subject to the necessary assurances as to the status of the Zionist Organization in the event of the dissolution of the enlarged Agency having first been obtained from the Mandatory Power.

9. COMMUNICATION TO MANDATORY POWER

It will be necessary for the Mandatory Power to be formally notified of the reconstitution and enlargement of the Agency, and requested to recognize the enlarged Agency as the bod{SPAN}(##){/SPAN} discharging the functions of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, as defined Article 4 of the Mandate. This shall be done as soon as the necessary action with regard to the provisorium shall have been taken by the Zionist Congress, and the arrangements for the first meeting of the Council of the enlarged Agency shall have been completed, it being understood that it will be necessary to obtain from the Mandatory Power, in advance of the next Congress, a satisfactory assurance with regard to the status of the Zionist Organization under Article 4 of the Palestine Mandate in the event of the dissolution of the enlarged Agency.

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