israel

SUNY Series in Israeli Studies Russell Stone, editor

ISRAEL The First Decade of Independence

edited by_ S. Tian T roen and Noah Lucas

STATE UNIVER SIT Y OF NEW YORK PRESS /C/9~

460

21

S. /Ian Troen

1980s a series of twenty-five pamphlets, entitled Pirkey Kiryat-ShemoTUJ, commemorating lhc origins and early history of the city.

RUTH KARK - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -

26. "Kan Talcum lr Hatzafon," Davar, 16 January 1950 (Kresscl Collection).

Planning, Housing, and Land Policy 1948-1952: The Formation of Concepts and Governmental Frameworks

27. Raphael Bashan, Shloshim Likiryat Malachi, 1951 - 1981 ("30 Years of Kiryat Malacru, 1951-1981 ") Ramat-Gan: Municiplaity of Kiryat Malachi, 1981 (Hebrew). 28. Bashan, Shloshim Lilciryat Malachi, pp. 19-21. 29. See 'Kiryat Malachi," in the Kresse! Collection. 0

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30. 4,000 Ve'od Arbaim Sharui (Ashlee Ion: Amoota LeMoreshet Ashlcelon, 1990) (Hebrew). Thls excellent forty-year anniversary volume of the city' s founding contains most of lhe historical information on which this section draws. Sec, too, Ashlee/o n: Siyhun Shesh Shnot Peulah 1959-1965 (Ashlcelon Municipality, 1965) (Hebrew) and Ashkelon: New Developments (World Zionist Organization, Project Planning Deaprtmcnt. 1973) (in Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, file 36267 Gimmcl).

This c hapter presents preliminary researc h findings regarding the crystallization of a natio nal la nd use and hous ing po licy, and tikhnun yozem arrzi- a Hebrew term coined in 194 8 meaning "pro-active," or "initiatory" national pl an ning-during the fi rst years of the S ta te of Israel from 1948 to 1952. The study foc uses on atte mpts to create new concepts and gove rnme ntal frameworks along with, or suppla nting, those of the Z ionis t movement, the Jewish Yishu v in Palestine, and other po li tical and settle ment bodies of the pre-state period. It traces the evolution o f new planning models and the activities they generated. The process occurred as the area of Israel increased from 15 ,000 sq uare kilome ters under the U ni ted Nations Parti tion Resolution, to over 20,000 square kilo meters afte r the War of Independence . This very large inventory of land requiring administration accrued to the new nation while an infl ux. of over 700,000 immigrants doubled the Jewish population within four years. The e nsuing radical change in the country's settleme nt m ap necessitated the formulation o f a bas ic approac h to its fu ture spatial dispos ition. 1 The firs t five years o f the S tate of Israel were hardly a clean slate in terms o f administratio n, political and party o rga nization, and accepted conve ntions regarding society and settlement. The c hanging circ umstances e ngendered a new e ra in planning and land allocation . TI1e major fa ctors in this process were the depanure of the Arabs (the reasons for wh ich cannot be addressed here) and the swe lling J ewish populatio n that altered the face o f urban housing and rural settlement. The new plann ing in itiatives were at times accompanied by power stru ggles and the pursuit o f private, institutional, party, and ministerial inte rests. But they also entailed coope ration, coordination, and the resolution o f differences regarding land use , planning, housing, and settle ment. There was a constant se arch , with much trial and error, for suitable ways, concepts, and working methods. As will be seen, thc:re were also instances o f wasteful duplication in some of the fra meworks en trusted with adminis tration and imple mentation. Some red undancy persisted also beyond the period under discuss ion here. Nevertheless, the entire process appears as a fascinating, creative d ialectic of decision- making mechan is ms and of attempts at sha ping shorl-

31. Ashlee/on Reborn (Tel Aviv: Afridar Housing corporation, 1952). 32. There is a good collection of materials in the Beer Sheva file at the Kresse! Collection. Especially useful for detailing the role of the Histadrut, sec "Beer-Shcva Likrat Harivivah Hashniyah," Davar, 24 September 1950 (Hebrew) and A. D. Meshulam, "Trumat HaHistadrut Lefituach Beer-Sheva," Davar, 22 July 1979 (Hebrew). The best study is Y. Gradus and E. Stem, eds., Beer-S!teva (Jerusalem: Keter, 1979) (Hebrew). 33. B. Alain and Y. Dror, Israel: High Pressure Plannin g (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1966). 34. S. I. Trocn, "Spearheads of the Zionist Frontier: Historical Perspectives on Post-1967 Settlement Planning in Judea and Samaria ," Planning Perspectives, 7 (1992): 81-100.

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and long-term statist policies al a time of considerable stress, revolutionary change, and exueme security pressures on the young State of Israel-in this case regarding land, national planning, and housing. The rebinh of the Staie of Israel as a soverei gn national enli ty entailed the setting up of suitable governmental machinery and frameworks. As Horowitz and Lissak pointed out, this had some paradoxical aspects. It was a revolutionary development in the political status of the state, its borders, and its demographic composition. But the political s tructure of Israel reflected continuity and consolidation of at least part of the organizational and ideological concepts that had crystallized under the British Mandate. The main burden of the transition from Yishuv to statehood was borne by the parties that panicipated in the formation of the state's social, organizational, and political frameworks in 1948.2

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