Yehoshua Hankin

Yehoshua Hankin (Hebrew: יהושע חנקין‎‎, 1864 – 11 November 1945) was a Zionist activist who was responsible for most of the major land purchases of the Zionist Organization in Ottoman Palestine and Mandatory Palestine.

Hankin was born in Kremenchuk, Russian Empire, and moved to Rishon LeZion with his parents in 1882.

In 1887 his family moved to Gedera, where he became friendly with local Arabs, helping him negotiate the purchase of land. Hankin's first purchase was the land of Rehovot, acquired in 1890. A year later he bought the land that later became the settlement and city of Hadera. He then purchased territories for the Jewish Colonial Association in the Galilee.

In 1888 Hankin married Olga Belkind (1852–1943) in Gedera. She was a woman twelve years his senior, who would become his partner in all his endeavors. Their marriage remained childless.

In 1908, when the Zionist organization sent Arthur Ruppin and set up the Palestine Land Development Company, Hankin joined. In 1909 or 1910, Hankin completed his first major purchase in the Jezreel Valley. He bought some 10,000 dunams (10 km²) of land in Al-Fuleh, which became the home of Merhavia. This purchase also marked the start of bitter disputes between Arabs and Jews over the rights of tenant farmers who had been evicted, and regarding the employment of Jewish or Arab watchmen for the land.

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