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the Hebrew Language and the Jewish culture; (D) The land would be purchased as Jewish property – and ownership of the lands purchased on behalf of KKL-JNF, to be held in perpetuity as the property of the Jewish People. These sections indicate that the two primary duties, as viewed by the founders in 1929, were increased Aliya and broad settlement.
Since 1929, the Jewish Agency was the representative body of the Jewish People in the eyes of the British Government on all issues pertaining to the Land of Israel and its representatives even participated in discussions on the affairs of the Land of Israel, which took place in the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. Its centers were in London and Jerusalem, with the center in Jerusalem growing in importance over the years. The first Chairmen of the Executive in Jerusalem were Fredrick Kisch, Dr. Arthur Ruppin and from 1935 David Ben-Gurion – and it was he who left the deepest mark upon the Jewish Agency over the following 13 years, until the establishment of the State of Israel.
Prominent figures in the Agency's Executive in the years prior to the establishment of the state were David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett (Shertok), Eliezer Kaplan, Eliyahu Dobkin, Moshe Shapira, Yitzhak Gruenbaum, Golda Meir (Meyerson), Peretz Bernstein and others. In the eyes of the Jews of the Land of Israel, the Jewish Agency served as a "nascent government" in preparation for the establishment of an independent Jewish state. Jointly with the Jewish National Council, it handled the various issues of establishing the national home and was the senior partner of the two. The primary issues it handled were foreign affairs, security, finances, Aliya, settlement and the economy. It had departments, quasi-government ministries and many of the people who headed these departments continued in their positions even after the establishment of the state as ministers and senior officials in the governmental mechanism.
Unlike the Jewish National Council, which ended its operations in the first year of the state's existence, the Jewish Agency continued to exist and operate throughout the years, in coordination with the various state institutions.
In 1948, the "nascent government" became the government of Israel, and the three central figures of the Jewish Agency Executive until the establishment of the state became the three senior ministers in the first governments of Israel: David Ben-Gurion – the Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Moshe Sharett – the Foreign Minister, and Eliezer Kaplan – the Finance Minister.
David Ben-Gurion, the Chairman since 1935, attributed special importance to issues of security and to a close relationship with the "Haganah" organization. From the end of 1946 and onward, in addition to his position as Chairman of the Jewish Agency, he also functioned as the "Defense Minister for the nascent state."
Three months after the establishment of the state, the Jewish Agency was tasked with handling Aliya and absorption. The Zionist General Council, which convened in the midst of the battles
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