The Old Yishuv were the Jewish communities of the region of Palestine during the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of World War I. In the late 19th century, the Old Yishuv comprised 0.3% of the world's Jews, representing 2–5% of the population of the Palestine region.
Photograph of Sephardi Jews in 19th century taken from 1899 book Views from Palestine and its Jewish colonies.
Jewish workers in Kerem Avraham neighborhood of Jerusalem in the mid-19th century
Funeral services for a Rabbi, Jerusalem, 1903
An Israeli etrog or Greek citron, with pitam and gartel (ridge around the center)
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described as "the act of going up", moving to the Land of Israel or "making aliyah" is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action — emigration by Jews from the Land of Israel — is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida. The Law of Return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity.
Abba Hushi during his Hachshara, circa 1920
Survey of Palestine, showing place of origin of immigrants between 1922 and 1944
Certificate issued by the Jewish Agency in Warsaw, Poland, for immigrant to Mandatory Palestine, September 1935.
Buchenwald survivors arrive in Haifa to be arrested by the British, July 15, 1945
