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JNF was initially capitalized with GBP 200,000 received from donors. Subsequently, the main source of income was donations which were deposited into about one million of "little blue boxes" distributed in Jewish communities all over the world. The JNF also raised money by printing stamps.

The JNF received its first parcel of land - a 50- Acre plot in Hadera - as a gift from philantropist Isaac Goldberg . In 1904 and 1905, the JNF purchased land plots near the Sea Of Galilee and at Ben Shemen . In 1921, JNF land holdings reached 25,000 acres (100 km&2), rising to 50,000 acres (200 km&2) by 1927. At the end of 1935, JNF held 89,500 acres (362 km&2) of land housing 108 Jewish communities. In 1939, 10% of the Jewish population of the British Mandate of Palestine lived on JNF land. Overall, during the British Mandate period, the JNF purchased about 94 km2 of land, largely from Arab landowners. From the beginning, JNF's policy was to lease land long-term rather than sell it.

JNF was also active in afforestation and reclamation of land. By 1935, JNF had planted 1.7 million trees over a total area of 1,750 acres (7.08 km&2) and drained swamps, like those in the Hulah Valley .

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War , the Israeli government sold land to the JNF land that had been seized from Arab refugees. At the end of 1948, 100 square kilometers of this land (from a total of about 350 km&2) was sold to the JNF for 11 million pounds. Another 25 km&2 was sold to the JNF later on.

In 1953, the JNF was dissolved and re-organized as an Israeli company without much essential change. A far greater change occurred in 1960, when administration of the land held by the JNF, apart from forested areas, was transferred to a newly formed government agency, the Israel Lands Administration, the government agency responsible for managing 93% of the land of Israel {Link without Title} . JNF received the right to nominates ten of the 22 directors of the ILA.

The charter prevents JNF from leasing land to non-Jews, but the restriction was frequently circumvented in practice, for example, by granting one-year lease to Bedouins for pastures. In January 2005, Israel's Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled in response to a Supreme Court petition that lease restrictions violated Israeli anti-discrimination laws.

In June 2005, an agreement was made by which the JNF would transfer its urban holdings to the state and the state would transfer an equal area of rural land to the JNF.

Nowadays, JNF owns 14% of the land in Israel.


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