Historical Background

After the Balfour Declaration in 1917, in which Great Britain stated that it viewed the establishment of a home for the Jewish people as a positive, the Mandate for the Land of Israel was given to Great Britain by the "League of Nations" in 1923. Even before this date, a "White Book" was issued (Description of a political document submitted to the British Parliament), which demanded a reduction in Jewish immigration to Israel so as not to harm the Arab residents. Later (in the years 1930, 1939), additional "white books" were published that severely limited immigration to the Land of Israel.
In light of this, the aliyah permits provided by the British (certificates) were in very limited numbers, and did not meet the demand, in particular during World War II and after, when the number of Jewish refugees reached huge numbers.

The immigration, which was also called "Aliya B" (as opposed to the legal immigration), was mainly managed by the national institutions, through the Mossad for Aliya B of the " Haganah" organization Click for sign’s details , but also through the Aliya Center of the Revisionist movement. (Aliyat "Nevertheless").

An extension on the Ha’apala can be found at Sign-O-Pedia: Aliyah Bet (Ha’apala)

London Garden
The London Garden is located on the beach of Tel Aviv, on this beach immigration ships landed . The garden is dedicated to the commemoration of the Ha’apala, and has two structures in the shape of ships with signs on them describing the history of the Ha’apala, .
On the other side of the garden are plaques with the names of all immigration ships .

About the signs

The signs on the ship-like structures are rectangular and made of plastic or glass with a metal frame . Additional signs describe the Ha’apala periods and the names of the ships .