WHEN THE STATE OF ISRAEL declared its independence on 15 May 1948, it opened its gates to unlimited Jewish immigration. From the Zionist perspective this marked an important achievement, for which the Yishuv had fought since the 1930s, and particularly in 1946–8: offering a life in Palestine to any Jew who wanted to come. Israel, which had a population of 650,000 when it was established, absorbed more than as many Jews again in its first three years and eight months (from May 1948 until the end of 1951): some 687,000 immigrants, flocking to Israel from around seventy countries. No one had predicted how vast this wave of immigration would be. Absorption of the newcomers was a central aspect of Israel's existence after the War of Independence; it was a focus of attention for the entire Jewish population as well as the country's leadership, and required tremendous financial resources.

The immigrants came from Europe, the Muslim countries of the Middle East, and northern Africa. They included Holocaust survivors, as well as the entire Jewish communities of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia; almost a total transfer of the Jewish communities of Yemen, Iraq, and Libya; and large groups from Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, and Egypt. Also in this period groups of children and teenagers arrived in Israel as part of Youth Aliyah. (This movement is discussed separately in Chapter 11.)

This immigration was not a spontaneous event. It was the result of a clear-cut decision, expressed in Israel's diplomatic and economic activity, which placed a heavy financial and organizational burden on the new state. In some cases, for example with Hungary, Bulgaria, and Poland, trade agreements were signed to cover up payments made to secure permission for the Jews to leave. In others, negotiations took place openly, the emigration of Jews being treated like any other business transaction, even down to bargaining over the price to be paid per head.

These agreements, which involved huge sums of money, could not have been concluded without help from outside Israel. The central source of funding was the American Joint Distribution Committee which worked in co-operation with the Jewish Agency and the government of Israel to organize immigration. The Joint helped maintain the transit camps for immigrants in France, Italy, Aden (for immigrants from Yemen), and other places, and financed most of the cost of transporting the immigrants to Israel.