ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the Second World War and the new political situation in Palestine created by the 1939 White Paper and the 1940 LTR required a new JNF strategy. During several meetings held between September 1939 and April 1940, Directorate members debated the main issues vital to the JNF’s mission and made important decisions about its financial future and its land-purchase prospects and goals for the 1940s. Although faced with plenty of land-purchase opportunities at the end of 1939, the JNF’s weak financial situation meant the Directorate would have to devise new sources of revenue and to prioritize land purchases. Granovsky introduced potential new sources of revenue (living legacies, sale of debentures, and participation of private capitalists in land purchase jointly with the JNF) to supplement free-will contributions, the JNF’s main source of income. The decision was also made to increase efforts to obtain loans. For increased contributions and large loans, most Directorate members looked with great hopes to the Jewish population in the USA.
