1934 Jewish National Fund Zionist Map of Israel

This is a 1934 Jewish National Fund Zionist map of Israel highlighting the Jewish National Fund's (JNF) push to acquire land in British Mandate Palestine for Jewish settlement. The map propagandizes the JNF's Zionist agenda and celebrates their significant successes. The JNF, founded as part of the early 20th-century Zionist movement, played a critical role in establishing a Jewish presence in Palestine in the decades before the creation of the Israeli state.

A Closer Look

Coverage embraces modern-day Israel from just north of Tyre (Lebanon) south to the northern border of Gaza and from the Mediterranean Coast inland as far as Mount Hermon, thus incorporating the Golan Heights. Various forms of hatching illustrate topography. Areas shaded orange indicate land owned by the JNF where it established Jewish settlements, many of which are Kibbutzim. Although unclear from reading the map, the JNF likely founded many of the smaller settlements identified. Major cities outside the areas are identified, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Haifa. Major highways (and possibly railroads) are illustrated as well.

Jewish Land Purchases in Palestine

The Talmud mentions the religious duty of settling the Land of Israel, even going so far as to allow the lifting of certain religious restrictions of Sabbath observance to further this goal. No foreigners were allowed to buy land in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, by policy until 1856 and in practice until 1867. The Ottomans opposed Jewish self-rule in Palestine out of fear that this might lead them to lose control of the region. The British closed all sale of land in Palestine after taking control in 1918, only to reopen it in 1920. Between the 1880s and the 1930s, because of a preference for unoccupied, inexpensive land, most Jewish land purchases fell in the coastal plain, the Jordan Valley, the Jezreel Valley, and, to a lesser extent, Galilee - as evident here.

Publication History and Census

This map was created for and published by the Jewish National Fund in late 1934 and printed in Tel Aviv by A. Kopelman. It is one of multiple similarly titled maps produced on behalf of the JNF, most of which are poorly cataloged, making a comprehensive census difficult. We do not see another confirmed example of this map in this edition.