Chaim Weizmann
Zionist leader and chemist, president of the World Zionist Organization and first President of Israel, who claimed the Litani valley for Palestine in 1919
| Chaim Weizmann
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| Image | _-_President_Chaim_Weizmann_(retouched).jpg)
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| Born | 27 November 1874 Motol, Russian Empire (now Belarus) |
| Died | 9 November 1952 Rehovot, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Chemist; Zionist leader; President of Israel 1949–1952 |
| Known for | Negotiating the Balfour Declaration; president of the World Zionist Organization |
Chaim Weizmann (27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a chemist and Zionist leader. He negotiated with the British government before the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917, was president of the World Zionist Organization from 1920 to 1931 and from 1935 to 1946, and became the first President of "Israel" in 1949.[1]
Life
He was born in Motol and received a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Fribourg. He moved to England in 1904 to work at the University of Manchester. In 1919 he led the Zionist delegation at the Paris Peace Conference and signed the Feisal–Weizmann agreement. In 1929 he became president of the expanded Jewish Agency. He was elected President of the Provisional State Council in 1948 and President of "Israel" in 1949. He died at Rehovot on 9 November 1952.[1]
Lebanon and the Litani
In 1919 Weizmann wrote to the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, that "the whole economic future of Palestine is dependent upon its water supply" from Mount Hermon, the Jordan and "the Litany [sic] river". He asked that "the Northern Frontier of Palestine should include the Valley of the Litany, for a distance of 25 miles above the bend", and wrote that "our claims to the north are imperatively demanded by the requirements of modern economic life".[2] See Litani River and Greater Israel.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Weizmann House, Chaim Weizmann: Timeline Yad Chaim Weizmann, accessed 22 October 2026 (Israeli-side).
- ↑ PALCIT, Quotation from Chaim Weizmann "Our claims to the north are imperatively demanded by the requirements of modern economic life" – 1919 PALCIT, citing Jewish Observer and Middle East Review, 16 November 1973, p. 22, accessed 22 October 2026 (critical).