First, a military manpower reservoir needed to be constructed in order to defend the new state against the hostile Arab neighbors. Second, the empty spaces in the country needed to be filled in order to prevent Arab settlers from claiming Israeli land. Third, the agricultural colonies and border settlements on the frontiers needed to be garrisoned in order to stop Arab encroachment on Israeli borders. Fourth, a modern economy needed to be created in order to achieve a Western standard of living. All of these reasons created strong incentives for the virtually unlimited Jewish immigration policy which was established in the early years (Sachar, 1986, p. 395).
Immigration became one of Israel's foreign policy objectives and the new government worked out deals with foreign governments to facilitate the passage of Jews from those countries to Israel. Elaborate schemes were devised to provide for the mass immigration of Jews from around the world. Some governments actually received money from the Israeli government in exchange for allowing the Jews of those countries to leave; other foreign governments, mainly Arab, forced their Jews to forfeit all property before leaving. Still other governments negotiated trade agreements in which Israel agreed to purchase goods or equipment from a country in return for Jewish immigrants (Segev, 1986, pp. 95-116).
Several agencies, both private and government, carried out the actual immigration process. Private agencies worked in many countries to encourage immigration and physically aid Jews in travelling to Israel. The largest of these groups was the Jewish Agency Executive, which had acted in part as the unofficial government of the Jewish people in Palestine, prior to independence. The Jewish Agency, however, frequently conflicted with the Israeli government over policy formulation and implementation. The Agency had real control over the numbers of immigrants who arrived in Israel...