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The Jewish community, known as the Yishuv, which developed from the late 19th century in the Land of Israel under Ottoman rule and afterwards in Palestine under British mandate, was an autonomous society. In many respects it was similar to other Jewish communities throughout pre-modern Jewish history. But unlike those communities, the Yishuv model also operated as an extensive territorial organization. In that capacity, it included a political system with democratic elections and institutions, social welfare organizations that supported the needy, a health system that established clinics and hospitals, a compulsory elementary school system, military infrastructure, and legal institutions.Thus, when the United Nations made its declaration in favor of a Jewish State on November 29, 1947, the Yishuv had all the needed infrastructures in place for establishing such a state.
