Jewish colonies in Palestine

In the late 19th century Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934) supported land purchases in Palestine and Israel. His large donations lent significant support to the movement during its early years, which helped lead to the establishment of the State of Israel. In the 1880s Edmond’s philanthropy funded Jewish settlements. Rishon le Zion was followed by others bearing the names of his parents. Edmond stimulated the economic development of the settlements by investing in new crops, such as grapefruit and avocado, and industrial enterprises such as silk production. Two major wineries were opened in Rishon le Zion and Zikhron Ya’akov. Edmond paid his first visit to the colonies in 1887, to inspect the progress that had been made in the first five years. In 1899, responsibility for the Rothschild settlements was transferred to form the Palestine branch of the Jewish Colonisation Association, which had been founded in 1891 and thereafter the JCA began to also assist the Jewish settlement in Palestine. In 1924, the JCA branch dealing with colonies in Palestine was reorganised to become the Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association (PICA), under the direction of Edmond’s son, James de Rothschild (1878-1957). When Edmond died in Paris in 1934, he left a legacy which included the reclamation of nearly 500,000 dunams of land and almost 30 settlements. In 1954, his remains and those of his wife Adelheid were interred at Ramat Hanadiv in Zikhron Ya’akov. In his will of 1957, James de Rothschild instructed that PICA should transfer most of its land in Israel to the Jewish National Fund.