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Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive: Zalman Shazar.

Alternate Chairman of the Executive of the WZO - Jewish Agency, American Section: Dr. Emanuel Neumann and Rose L. Halperin.

President of the World Zionist Organization: Nahum Goldmann.

Treasurer of the Jewish Agency: Dov Joseph.

Chairman Youth Aliyah Department: Moshe Kol.

Chairman Settlement Department: Levi Eshkol.

Chairman of the Immigration Department: Shlomo Zalman Shragai.

Chairman Absorption Department: Dov Joseph.

Almost 8,000 Romanian Jews emigrate to Israel. In late 1958, Romania permitted emigration and about 120,000 out of an estimated 220,000 Jews registered to do so. Romania again will stop emigration, after about 15,000 Jews leave for Israel. Many Jews are persecuted for "illegal Zionist activities".

New immigrants in 1959: 23,895.

January: There are seven additional Syrian attacks along the border. Israel appeals to the UN Security Council.

January 20: Speaker of the Knesset Joseph Sprinzak dies.

February 1: Price controls and rationing of essential commodities end.

March 2: MK Nahum Nir of Ahdut HaAvodah is elected speaker of the Knesset, defeating the Mapai candidate Berl Locker.

February: Egypt resumes its pre-1957 practice of searching foreign ships for cargoes originating in or bound for Israel and confiscating such goods.

April 1: April fool's joke made in Israel: Some officers of the General Staff decide to institute a mock mobilization of the reserves in order to see the reaction among the Arab states. The country is in a state of tension. National and international news spread that Israel is preparing for war. The two responsible officers, General Meir Zora, Director of Military Operations, and General Yehoshafat Harkabi, Director of Military Intelligence, are dismissed from their posts. Yitzhak Rabin, commander-in-chief of the Northern Command is appointed news Director of Military Operations. Chaim Herzog is appointed Director of Military Intelligence.

April 18: Former French Minister of Defense Pierre Koenig visits Israel.

May 11: Former French Prime Minister Guy Mollet participates in the Independence Day celebrations.

May 21: Egypt detains the Danish freighter "Inge Toft" in the Suez Canal, refusing to permit the passage of vessels carrying Israeli cargo.

May: B'nai B'rith holds its convention in Jerusalem. It is the first time in 116 years that a convention is held outside the US.

May: The International Court at The Hague decides that it has no jurisdiction over Israel's claim for damages resulting from the shooting down of an El Al airliner over Bulgaria in July 1955.

June 15 : UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold publishes a report emphasizing economic measures necessary for the integration of the refugees in the Middle East. The Arabs agree to the extension of the UNRWA but reject any measure that might be construed as an abandonment of their repatriation demand.

July 5 : The German magazine "Der Spiegel" reports that Israel is to manufacture small arms for the West German army. This disclosure causes a cabinet crisis, with some ministers calling for the cancellation of the deal. A majority upholds the sale. Ben Gurion submits his resignation.

July 9 : Moroccan and other Middle Eastern immigrants riot in the Wadi Salib slum in Haifa as a result of housing and employment discrimination. Riots in Beersheva and Migdal HaEmek follow. The term "Wadi Salib" becomes an inseparable part of the consciousness of "the Second Israel", designating Oriental Jews in contrast to "the First Israel", which designates European Jews.

July 15: President Yitzhak Ben Zvi requests David Ben Gurion to form a new government, but Ben Gurion informs him that he is unable. Elections are scheduled for November.

July 17 : Israel signs an agreement with a group of international investors headed by Baron Edmond de Rothschild to construct an oil pipeline from Eilat to Haifa.

July 24: Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog dies.

July 31: A new wave of riots erupts in Wadi Salib.

August 5: A proposal to abolish military rule over Arab regions in Israel is defeated by the Knesset.

October 6: The first Israeli subway, the Carmelit in Haifa, is inaugurated.

October 14: West Germany requests Britain to extradite Adolf Eichmann, reportedly in British-controlled Kuwait.

October 15: The Bank of Israel issues a new series of currency.

October 22: French car manufacturer Renault, yielding to the Arab boycott, ends the assembly of its car in the Ilin plant in Haifa.

November 3 : Israel holds national elections for the Fourth Knesset, with 969.337 votes cast. Mapai wins 47 seats; Herut 17 seats; Ahdut HaAvoda 7 seats; the National Religious Party 12 seats.

November 19: Former French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès-France visits israel.

November 30: The Fourth Knesset convenes. Kadish Luz is elected Speaker of the Knesset.

November: The National Yiddish Theater of Poland headed by Ida Kaminska begins a six-week tour of Israel.

December 9: UN General Assembly Resolution 1456.

December 16: Israel's first submarine, the Tanin (alligator) arrives in Haifa port.

December 17: The government is installed with David Ben Gurion prime minister and minister of defense, Golda Meir minister of foreign affairs, Moshe Dayan minister of agriculture, Abba Eban and Shimon Peres without portfolio.

December 23: Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser declares that Israel will not be permitted to use the Suez Canal "until the Palestine problem is resolved."

Yehezkel Kutscher (1909-1971), a leading Hebraist and Aramaist, publishes a monumental study in Hebrew of the language of the complete Isaiah scroll from Qumran, showing how its deviations from the Masoretic text reflect the contemporary Hebrew of the Roman period. In 1960 Kutscher will be appointed professor at the Hebrew University and receive an Israel Prize for his research.

March: Pope John XXIII declares that the phrase "pro perfidis Judaeis" be deleted from the Good Friday service. The "Let us pray for the unbelieving Jews" was open of even more derogatory interpretations.

Herman Wouk, U. S. novelist writes "This Is My God", a description of Judaism and its practices from an Orthodox viewpoint.

Nelson Glueck, archaeologist and Hebrew Union College president, writes "Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev."

Arthur Hertzberg, U. S. historian and rabbi, edits "The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader", in which he presents the entire range of Zionist thought from the early 18th century to the present.

Philip Roth, U. S. author, writes "Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories", depicting Jewish life in suburban New Jersey and New York.

Irving Berlin composes "Israel", a song that reflects his emotional attachment to the State of Israel.

Arthur Kornberg, U. S. biochemist, is awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his synthesis of DNA in a cell-free preparation.

Emilio Segrè, U. S. nuclear physicist is awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his research in the elementary particle, the antiproton.

Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century, sculpts "Saint Michael Killing the Devil" for England's Coventry Cathedral.

Cecil Roth, British Jewish historian writes "The Jews in the Renaissance", a study of the contribution of the Jews in Italy to the Renaissance.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) completes his first stained glass window at the Metz cathedral. The set of windows will be completed in 1963.

Primo Levi's (1919-1987) "If This Is a Man", a first hand account of the horrors of Auschwitz appears in English translation from the Italian. Primo Levi is a writer and a chemist. In "Reawakening" he will describe his long journey home to Turin after being liberated from the camp by the Soviet Red Army. In 1984 he will write "The Periodic Table", a third autobiographical volume.

Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler (1931-2001) writes "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", the portrayal of a Jewish boy who creates a financial empire through ruthless manipulation and cunning. Some critics denounce the novel as an example for Richler's Jewish self-hatred, whereas others praise it as an accurate satire of today's society at large. The novel will be adapted to the screen in 1974, starring Richard Dreyfuss as Duddy.