Growth Against the Siege (1955)

This map was designed by Moi Ver and published in 1955 by the Labour Party of Israel (Mapai, in Hebrew).

This is a propaganda poster promoting Zionism, encouraging immigration to the newly created state of Israel, and opposing pressure from surrounding Arab countries. This can be seen in the title of the map, “Growth against siege”, as well as in the map itself.

In the upper left corner, three ships and two aeroplanes can be seen, referring to the volume of Jews arriving in Israel. Between 1948 and 1952, nearly 800,000 Jews from different parts of the world arrived in the country. In the lower right corner, an Arab is shown with his back turned, carrying a weapon as if he were actually besieging Israeli territory.

Sources

• Growth poster opposite the siege
• Israelising Jerusalem: the encounter between architectural and national ideologies, 1967–1977