Mikveh Israel, the first Jewish agricultural school to be established in Palestine, was officially declared a national landmark yesterday. It is the first institution of its kind so designated in Israel.
The school, established in 1870 just outside Jaffa by Charles Netter on behalf of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris, is a two-story building that served as a dormitory for 60 students. It also contained classrooms, kitchen and office facilities and an adjacent barn. The livestock consisted of sows, bulls, two donkeys, a horse, a mule and several sheep. The late Premier David Ben Gurion often referred to it as the birthplace of the State of Israel.
It was at the school gate in 1897 that Theodor Herzl first met Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany who was touring the Holy Land.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
