Despite robust scholarship on the functions of these organizations in the pre-state period, very little attention has been devoted to their transformation since 1948. Further, the settlement activities of both state organs are largely concealed from public view due to contemporary political sensitivities. While there is a common misperception that JAFI and the WZO are charitable organizations that serve a kind of parastatal function,28 both are state institutions with a storied history in the Zionist narrative beginning in the mandate period. These two organs were officially incorporated into the Israeli government under the WZO-Jewish Agency Status Law in 1952, which some legal experts argue incorporates them as government institutions that are indivisible from the State of Israel.29 According to the
1953–1954 Israel Government Yearbook, this status regulation was of such importance that “the Prime Minister, in submitting the law to the Knesset, defined it as ‘one of the foremost basic laws’,”30 a statement of particular significance as Israel has no formal constitution and relies on the Basic Laws as its framework for governance. The Status Law was also considered an important complement to the Law of the Right of Return.