In Israel, all land is considered the inalienable property of the entire Jewish people, therefore land in the state is not sold, but leased on easy financial terms for up to 49 years. At the request of the lessor or his heirs, this term can be automatically extended, but the leased plots must be cultivated and not used for any other purpose without special permission from the Jewish National Fund (currently the Land Administration). Currently, approximately 95% of the country's land fund is owned by the state.
It is noteworthy that before the mass settlement by Jews, the land of Eretz Israel, although it was empty, had not been cultivated for years and, accordingly, was completely unusable, but it was still the property of the Arab population who lived in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and other countries. The Jewish National Fund was created to purchase these lands (Keren Kayemet LeYisrael), which involved Jews around the world in fundraising, including philanthropists, one of whom was Baron Edmond Rothschild. Special stamps were issued; in synagogues around the world, white and blue coffers were installed, where every Jew, regardless of his ability, considered it necessary to contribute a certain part of his own funds. The Foundation created a "Golden Book" where the names of individuals were entered, who donated significant sums of money to this cause. Funds collected by the fund were directed to the initial development of the acquired lands (drainage, irrigation, construction of rainwater storage facilities, road construction, tree planting, etc.). Baron Rothschild personally donated a significant amount – 40 million French francs for the purchase of 27.5 thousand hectares, but at the same time he was an organizer and patron of the Jewish settlement movement.
For a long time, the agricultural sector of Israel was based on various forms of agricultural enterprises:
- kibbutz (about 270);
- two types of moshavs – moshavs ovdim (working settlement – more than 15 thousand) and moshavs shituf (collective settlement – about 300);
- individual farms (about 4,000 private Jewish and approximately 6,000 Arab family farms).
Kibbutz (initially – lame – group) – a form of rural settlement-commune for joint economic activity (mainly in the field of agriculture), which appeared on the territory of Eretz Israel at the beginning of the 20th century. Kibbutz and the kibbutz movement played an important role both in the formation of the State of Israel and in the subsequent transformation of this state into one of the world leaders in the agricultural and industrial market.
The first agricultural settlement based on collective beginnings is Kibbutz Dganiya – was created in 1909, on the southern bank of the Kinneret by a group of young supporters of socialist ideas, Zionists and romantics from Romny, Sumy region. By the way, the first child born in Dganiya was a famous military figure, Israeli hero, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. In the following years, the number of kibbutz only increased, currently numbering about 270 with a total number of more than 100,000 people.
The ideological foundations of a traditional kibbutz can be considered the principles of practical Zionism, socialism, general equality and direct democracy. In practice, this meant: 1) all property in the kibbutz is public and belongs to the commune; 2) the principle of direct physical labor of each member of the kibbutz, according to which work is distributed equally among all members of the kibbutz; 3) distribution of benefits without reference to the amount of income brought by a certain member of the community. People get everything they need from the common fund. No wages or bonuses are paid to kibbutz members.
The principle of direct democracy prevails in the management of the kibbutz: every member of the commune participates or at least has the right to participate in the decision of all issues. The highest authority of the kibbutz is the general assembly. It forms the social and economic policy of the kibbutz, approves the budget, accepts new members to the kibbutz.
Due to political difficulties, the kibbutz, together with other agricultural settlements, was also a defensive line. Except the external threat, an internal one was added: as a result of the decision on the further development of the new Jewish society in the region, the kibbutzim were actually divided into the “left” (Zionist movements of the socialist direction) and the "right" (representatives of European / American financial capitals).
In later years, the kibbutz movement experienced two significant crises: in the 1950s and 1980s. The first was related to ideological problems and conflicts that took place after the establishment of the State of Israel, in particular, regarding the acceptance of new returnees to kibbutzim without appropriate ideological training. Moreover, these years saw the deterioration of relations with the USSR and the Soviet model of the economy – as a result of the exposure of the “cult of personality” and the appearance of the first information about repression (in particular, during collectivization), as well as the Soviet regime's orientation towards supporting Arab countries. The crisis of the 1980s was associated with purely economic factors that contributed to the gradual transformation of communes into ordinary enterprises and farms, some of which are currently part of large global corporations, forming multi-industry economic units. For a long time, kibbutzim accounted for about 10% of Israeli industrial production and industrial exports. And although, at the moment, traditional kibbutzim continue to exist in Israel, but in most cases such a system has already been reformed.
Moshav (translation – settlement) – cooperative agricultural settlement combining elements of collective and private farms. The ideologist of its creation was Eliezer Joffe, who in 1913 organized Kibbutz Kinneret and in practice became convinced that the kibbutz form of organization of work and social life, despite its attractiveness, is not suitable for everyone. In particular, all life in the kibbutz takes place in public; even a small amount of private property was unacceptable, and the payment of labor did not depend in any way on its results.
Thus, in 1921, Joffe created the first moshav, which combined collective and private farms. 3 main principles of functioning of moshav were proposed:
- consolidation of specific land plots owned by the state and leased for a period of 49 years for certain families. Thus, all members of the moshav are in the same starting conditions;
- rejection of hired labor (as in kibbutzim), cultivation of the land using family resources and equipment belonging to a certain family, but with the widespread principle of collective mutual assistance in production.
- supply and sales activities, as well as social services, are carried out jointly, that is, collectively.
Similar to kibbutzim, moshavs created and are creating joint industrial, financial, cultural and educational institutions and associations on a voluntary basis, which, in turn, form their own enterprises. The latter can count 30–50 moshavs. However, this model is typical for moshavs ovdim (workers' settlements). On the other hand, there are more in Israel of moshavs shitufi (collective settlements), which are characterized by the following: collective ownership of the means of production; the organization of production is also collective, that is, members of the moshav, temporarily free from work on their own family plot, go to work on the plot where there is a need.
As in the case of the kibbutz movement, the moshav model of agricultural production suffered significant problems during its existence. Over time, plots of land belonging to impoverished moshav members were leased to more successful owners. In this case, kibbutzim with larger collective production were more profitable. Currently, we are observing changes in the agrarian sphere of life in the country, which indicates its increasing popularity of individual farms, but at the same time, it is still too early to talk about the complete disappearance of other forms of social life.