Menachem Ussishkin

Menachem Ussishkin (Russian: Менахем Усышкин, Hebrew: מנחם אוסישקין‎‎) (August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund.

Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin was born in Dubroŭna in the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire. In 1889, he graduated as a technical engineer from Moscow Technological Institute. Ussishkin was among the founders of the BILU movement and the Moscow branch of the Hovevei Zion. He also joined the Bnei Moshe society founded by Ahad HaAm. In 1891, he made his first trip to Palestine.

He served as Secretary of the First Zionist Congress. At the Sixth Zionist Congress he opposed the Uganda plan.

He was one of the Jewish delegates to the Paris peace conference after World War I.

In 1919, Ussishkin made aliyah to Palestine. In 1920 he was appointed head of the Zionist Commission in Palestine. In his pamphlet "Our Program" he advocated group settlement based on labour Zionism. Under his influence the Zionist movement actively supported the establishment of agricultural settlements, educational and cultural institutions, and Jewish polytechnic - later the Technion.

In 1923 he was elected President of the Jewish National Fund which he headed until his death. Ussishkin was behind major land acquisitions in the Hefer, Jezreel and Beit She'an valleys.

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