in the years immediately following independence because it had agents located throughout the world. These agents were the ones who actually moved Jews out of the countries, often smuggling them across borders. The power of the Agency over Jewish immigration into Israel has waned since the 1950s, but it remains the principal organization officially charged with promoting Jewish immigration into Israel (Norden, 1991, p. 35; Segev, 1986, pp. 102-16).
During the time of the British Mandate, prior to independence, immigration into Palestine had averaged 18,000 per year; between 1948 and 1951, immigration into Israel averaged 18,000 per month. The Jewish population in Israel expanded rapidly, increasing from 650,000 in December of 1947 to more than 1.6 million at the end of 1952. Between 1949 and 1959, the population doubled; by 1964 it had nearly quadrupled. In all, the first wave of immigration in 1948-51 numbered about 700,000, with about one-half coming from Europe and one-half from Asia and Africa (Friedman, 1984,
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