ABSTRACT
Since its establishment, the State of Israel has conducted an ‘open door’ policy on immigration for all Jews who wish to go there. The notion of free immigration dates back to the inception of the Zionist movement in 1897, when the Basel Program was formulated. This stated: ‘Zionism seeks to establish for the Jewish people a legally secured homeland in Palestine.’ 1 The program was composed by Theodor Herzl in the German language, which uses the term heimsätte. This has been rendered in English also as ‘home’, ‘homestead’ and sometimes ‘haven’, and in Hebrew miklat batuah, literally, ‘a safe haven’.
