The World Zionist Organization was established in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress. Initially, it was called merely "the Zionist Organization," but the name was changed in 1960 to the " World Zionist Organization."

Upon its founding, the organization was defined as the organizational framework that included all Jews who accepted the Basel Program and paid the membership fee (the shekel). It was tasked with achieving the Zionist goals embodied in the Basel Program, chief among them the establishment of a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine "guaranteed by public law," a phrase which, in fact, means "guaranteed by the colonial powers in the West."

The organization served as an official body representing the Zionist movement in its negotiations with the major colonial states at the time to sway one of them into adopting the Zionist project. It was a framework for organizing the relationship between settlement Zionists and assimilationists, marking the shift of Zionist activity from its embryonic phase to organized operations on the Western front.

Zionist financial institutions

To implement its colonization scheme, the organization worked to establish several financial institutions to finance the Zionist project, the most important of which was the Jewish Colonial Trust, a Zionist bank established in 1899. Sokolov noted that this bank was founded on the model of the East India Company and the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, as well as mining companies in South Africa. In 1903, the trust established a banking branch with a capital of 40,000 pounds sterling and opened additional branches in the Netherlands and France (later known as the "British Palestine Bank," and then subsequently called "Leumi Bank for Israel" since 1951).

Jewish National Fund

In 1901, the organization established the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth) to provide the necessary funds to purchase land in Palestine. The foundational law of this fund stipulated that the lands purchased would be deemed eternal property of the Jewish people, which could neither be sold nor relinquished. The organization also obtained the privilege of the "Die Welt" magazine to serve as its mouthpiece.

Shekel payers

The Zionist organization grew during its early years; by the time of the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903, the number of participating members reached 600, and the number of Zionist associations increased to 1,572 across various countries. On the eve of World War II (1939), membership reached one million. In 1946, the number of shekel payers was 2,159,840 (though it should be noted that for many Zionists, membership in the organization merely entailed paying the shekel and did not necessarily mean engaging in any other activities).

From Vienna to Jerusalem

The organization’s center moved from one capital to another. After Herzl's death, the president's office moved from Vienna to Cologne, which was David Wolffsohn's headquarters from 1905 to 1911, and then to Berlin under the presidency of Otto Warburg (1911-1920). After the issuance of the "Balfour Declaration," the organization’s center shifted to London: the imperial center of gravity in the world (which meant a connection with British imperialism and the signing of a silent contract with Western civilization). The organization's center remained in London during the presidency of Chaim Weizmann (1920-1931) and then Nahum Sokolov (1931-1935). In 1936, following the establishment of settlement institutions in Palestine, which were placed under a mandate in 1921, the organization moved to Jerusalem, although London remained the headquarters for the organization’s president and some members of the executive committee.

Disputes and conflicts

The history of the organization was not without disputes and conflicts among the various factions, as well as divisions and schisms. From the first Zionist conference (1897) until 1905, opposition emerged from practical Zionists (the settlement-oriented settlers) who called for focusing on the first item of the Basel program regarding encouraging settlement in Palestine. In contrast, Herzl led the diplomatic Zionists (the colonialists) who focused on achieving the fourth item of the Zionist program, which sought an international (i.e., Western) "charter" that would allow Jewish settlement in Palestine based on law and under the protection of the major colonial powers.

Not a fundamental or strategic dispute

It is worth noting that the disagreement between the two sides was not a fundamental or strategic dispute but rather a tactical one, concerning the focus on one item over another in the Zionist program. In fact, a compromise formula that combined both trends was eventually reached, represented in the synthesis Zionism (or conciliatory Zionism) proposed by Weizmann at the eighth Zionist conference (1907), and the settlement Zionists succeeded in consolidating their control over all Zionist institutions during the eleventh conference.

The Democratic League

In 1913, deep disagreements emerged regarding the organization’s administration, and the democratic Zionist wing (the Democratic League) led by Chaim Weizmann, Leo Motzkin, Victor Jacobson, and Martin Buber, among others, criticized Herzl's leadership for being undemocratic and neglectful of the revival of Jewish culture.

At the same time, opposition led by Menachem Ussishkin through the Russian committee and its conference held in 1903 warned Herzl to abandon his leadership style and to cancel the East Africa project, focusing instead on settlement projects in Palestine.

Significant schisms

The organization witnessed significant schisms, the first being the withdrawal of Israel Zangwill and his regional Zionist followers after the seventh Zionist conference (1905) rejected the proposal to establish a Jewish national homeland in Uganda, leading them to establish an independent organization known as the Regional Zionist Organization.

Another split occurred in 1933 when the majority of the revisionist Zionists, led by Vladimir Jabotinsky, broke away from the Zionist Organization after failing to persuade it to explicitly adopt the demand that the ultimate goal of the movement was the establishment of a Jewish state, forming another organization called the “New Zionist Organization."

In addition, the organization was divided into various political trends; the Zionist Labor Movement (the labor Zionists), the Mizrahi Movement (representing religious ethnic Zionism), and general Zionists. There was also a cultural ethnic Zionism trend headed by Ahad Ha'am and his supporters.

It should also be noted that this division or these schisms occurred within a framework of unity and fundamental commitment. Therefore, we find that the regionalists and revisionists returned to the organization after a few years, and that the Mizrahi followers who split in 1901 under the leadership of Rabbi Isaac Reines and founded the Mizrahi movement continued to work within the framework of the organization alongside the Marxist labor Zionists and the liberal-oriented general Zionists.

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Source: From the Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism, and Zionism.