A toast at the Presidential Residence in honor of the Knesset's birthday, Tu Bishvat 1997

Knesset Speaker Dan Tichon:

Gentlemen, it is Tuesday, the 13th of Shvat, January 21st 1997. This Knesset sitting is now open; a special Knesset sitting marking the 48th year since the establishment of the Knesset, which is celebrated on the 15th of Shvat, and to mark the centennial for the establishment of the Union of Farmers in Israel.

Members of the Knesset, we celebrate today three events: The 15th of Shvat, the New Year of the Trees; a birthday – 48 years to the Knesset; and the organized peasantry – and when one speaks of Zionism taking root, it also refers to the cooperative settlements and farmers.

My fellow Members of Knesset, it is already 48, beautiful, polished, elder, democratic, and at times ugly. This is our Knesset.

Anyone who looks at the past 100 years, which we refer to as “100 years of Zionism,” can appreciate a special and rare breed of people – the breed of the farmers. We owe them and their followers a debt of honor. It is Zionism at its best. The longer the years that Zionism exists, the contribution of the farmers becomes clearer. As in the past, today’s farmers are vital and radiate solidity and stability.

The farmers are unique in their complete dedication to Eretz Yisrael, as a sole condition for the continued existence of the people. This dedication is through action, rather than just an idea. The first farmers were not called here by the Zionist movement, and there are those who believe that they even acted against its will. The settlers fulfilled their goals with their strength and consistency. There is no imagining the face of the Jewish society in the country without the settlements. This was the laying of foundations to the working settlements, the formulation of patterns of the Kibbutz and cooperatives – a cornerstone for the national home and the Jewish state.

When we speak of farmers, we immediately smell the orchards of the seashore plains, the taste of wines, and the view of groves in the Galilee. Provincial farming is the private agriculture that did not gain the prestige of socialist settlements, but that doesn’t take away from its contribution to the economy of the land.

The family of the earth. They were called the middle class. These were people, starting with the First Aliyah, who grew up on a principle of distinguishing oneself from the lifestyle you grew up in.

The farmers of the settlements were a role model for building relations with the Arab population. A brotherhood of nations was not an empty slogan, but a way of life. The settlements became absorption centers for masses, “but Muhammad and Mustafa are entitled to a living,” or as Bilu member Menashe Meirovich said: “Pure Hebraic labor will become a sword in the hands of our enemies.”

The farmers established an individual way of settlement, with no mechanism to support them. It was characterized by the freedom given to each settler. However their work is not yet complete. In recent years, the Farmers’ Union established a new settlement in the Galilee, and settlements in the Golan Heights, in Nahal Eron and en-route to Jerusalem. For many years the farmers were discriminated against and undermined by all governments.

An alliance exists for over 20 years between the Farmers’ Union and the Agricultural Center. These two important institutions, that deal with agriculture, are working together to fight the distresses of the branch that symbolizes Zionism most of all. Moshe Smilansky, a founding member of the Union, said: “If agriculture can be found here – the national home is here.” I send thanks to you, members of the family of the earth, who are faithful to his words and realize them.