A Jewish <em>Millet</em> to a Jewish National State-Within-A-State

Abstract

The Jewish community of Palestine (the Yishuv) began its transformation to a semi-autonomous entity shortly after the arrival of the Second Immigration to Palestine, from 1900-1914. During those years, the building blocks of a secular national governing framework were organized, and as WW I began, Ashkenazi leaders attained hegemony over the millet. During the war, the Jewish Diaspora's munificent financial transfers underwrote the survival and development of the millet. By 1918, the Yishuv, as a state-within-a-state, was poised to further expand its economy and militarize under British auspices. In 1920, only two years after the end of the war, the Jewish community selected the members of its internal governing body, the Va'ad HaLeumi (National Council) and as it gained in political and economic strength, bolstered by waves of immigration, the Va'ad HaLeumi prepared to establish a Jewish State.