Abstract
Kidron examines the ways in which Zionist settlers in Palestine used the crisis brought about by the advent of the First World War as an effective instrument through which to achieve a change in national consciousness. She contends that the war crisis was used to re-define social distinctions in accordance with a differentiated Zionist image and, importantly, to emphasize the new yishuv’s supremacy in a way that did not reflect any particular social reality but rather the effort to create new social awareness. The chapter argues that a significant gap developed between the actual supremacy of the new yishuv during the war and the supremacy of its image and demonstrates the different factors that worked to strengthen this image. This image was ultimately a key factor in the ongoing social integrity and survival of Jewish society in the region, and later allowed for the emergence of a distinct national social formation within Palestine that redefined the relationships between the social groups there.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Uziel Schmaltz (1991), ‘Hitma’atut Ukhlusiyat Erets-Israel Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona’, in Eliav Mordechai, ed. Bamatsor Uvamatsok: Erets-Isarael Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona (Jerusalem), 17–47. For a general overview on the war in Palestine, see Eliav Mordechai, ed. (1991), Bamatsor Uvamatsok: Erets-Isarael Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona (Jerusalem). Studies on the war’s social and cultural context began to be published in the 1980s and in their wake, the idea emerged that the war may also be seen as a window of opportunity and as leverage for social processes. For a historiographical review, see Billie Melman (1998/1999), ‘Lahafoch et Hamilhama Lehistorya: Hamilhama Hagdola, Historya Ve-Historyonim, 1914–1998’, Zmanim, 65, 6–23. For updates in civilian historiography of the war, see Iris Rachamimov (2014), ‘Hahistoryografia Haezrahit shel Milhemet Ha’olam Harishona—Hamilhama Hagdola Baktiva Ha’akademit ha’akhshavit’, Historia 33, 9–34.
- 2.
See Natan Efrati (1991), Mimashber Letikva (Jerusalem); Rachel Hart (2009), ‘Yahaso Shel Hayishuv Hayehudi el Hayishuv Ha’aravi Be-Yafo Uve-Tel-Aviv, 1881–1930’ (PhD diss., University of Haifa), 139. Hart notes that during the crisis an alliance was formed between the Sephardi elite of Jaffa and Zionist circles and regards these two groups as Zionist. My article on Haifa has also reached the same conclusion, which is undermined, however, when taking a broader look at other mixed cities. Anat Kidron (2009), ‘Va’ad Hakehila Vekinun Kehila ‘Al-’Adatit Be-Haifa Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona’, Iyunim Bitkumat Israel 19, 401–421. Studies dealing with the ‘old yishuv’ also mention the war as a particularly low point in its decline in status. Menahem Friedman (1991), ‘Hevra Bemashber Ligitimatsya: Hayishuv Haashkenazi Hayashan, 1900–1917’, in Moshe Lissak, ed. Toldot Hayishuv Hayehudi Be-Erets-Israel Meaz Ha’aliya Harishona (The Ottoman Period, 2) (Jerusalem, Mossad Bialik), 116.
- 3.
Abigail Jacobson (2011), From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem Between Ottoman and British Rule (Syracuse, Syracuse University Press).
- 4.
Jay Winter emphasizes the diversity of urban identities that are of local rather than national in wartime. Jay Winter (2007), ‘The Practices of Metropolitan Life in Wartime’, in Winter Jay and Jean-Louis Robert, ed. Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin, 1914–1919, vol. 2 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), 1–19.
- 5.
Anat Kidron (2017), Constructing the Boundaries of Social Consciousness Under Conditions of War: The Urban Jewish Society in Eretz Yisrael/Palestine During World War I, Journal of Levantine Studies, 7:2 (Winter) 9–34.
- 6.
See, for example, Natan Efrati (1991), Mimashber Letikva (Jerusalem, Yad Ben-Zvi); Menahem Friedman (1991), ‘Hevra Bemashber Ligitimatsya: Hayishuv Haashkenazi Hayashan, 1900–1917’, in Moshe Lissak, ed. Toldot Hayishuv Hayehudi Be-Erets-Israel Meaz Ha’aliya Harishona (The Ottoman Period, 2) (Jerusalem, Mossad Bialik), 116.
- 7.
Winter emphasizes the gap between ‘imagined reality’ (national in our case) and the ‘experienced reality’ which provides a different picture. See Jay Winter (2007), ‘The Practices of Metropolitan Life in Wartime’.
- 8.
Shmaltz, who relied on Ottoman sources, presents different data regarding the general population and the Jewish population. Uziel Schmaltz (1991), ‘Hitma’atut Ukhlusiyat Erets-Israel Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona’, in Mordechai Eliav, ed. Bamatsor Uvamatsok: Erets-Isarael Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona (Jerusalem), 17–47.
- 9.
Dotan Halevi (2015), ‘The Rear Side of the Front: Gaza and Its People in World War I’, Journal of Levantine Studies 5:1, 35–57.
- 10.
Yehoshua Ben-Aryeh (1981), ‘Shenem-’Asar Hayishuvim Hagdolim Be-Erets-Israel Bamea Ha-19’, Cathedra 19, 83–143.
- 11.
Ibid.
- 12.
Rachel Alboim-Dror (1980), Hahinukh Ha’ivri Berets-Israel 2 (Jerusalem), 15–120; Rachel Alboim-Dror (1991), ‘Hamilhama kehizdamnut lekibush hahegemonia bakhi’, in Mordechai Eliav, ed. Bamatsor Uvamatsok: Erets-Isarael Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona (Jerusalem), 48–60.
- 13.
The term ‘Hebrew’ is used to distinguish it from the term ‘Jewish’ and to emphasize the Zionist national ambitions.
- 14.
‘The Jewish Community in Haifa, a General Overview of the Composition and the Activities of the Committee Since Its Founding’, Haifa City Archive [henceforth: HCA], 208/4 (undated).
- 15.
Kobi Cohen-Hattab (1996), ‘Me’oravut Va’ad Hakehila shel Yerushalaim Behitpathut Ha’ir, 1917–1948’, Cathedra 82, 111–134.
- 16.
Aharon Feldman and Hadani Ever (1955), Hahityashvut Bagalil Hathton: Hamishim Shnot Koroteha (Ramat Gan), 95–96; Arie Bitan (1987), Temurot Yishuviyot Bagalil Hathton Hamizrahi 1800–1978 (Jerusalem 1982), 84.
- 17.
Ya’akov Bargaret (7 August 1914), ‘Teveriya Veaklima’, Hapoel Hatzair.
- 18.
David Sarid (1984), ‘Hatmurot Bayishuv Hayehudi Be-Teveria Bitkufat Ha’aliya Harishona Vehashniya 1882–1914’ (MA thesis, Bar-Ilan University), 30–56, 61; Oded Avishar (1973), Tiberias (Jerusalem, 1973), 208–212.
- 19.
Ibid., 163.
- 20.
Dr. Ya’akov Bargaret, Yahye Nizri, Yaakov Moshe Toledano, Aharon Segal and Leib Yaffe to Menachem Ussishkin [undated], Central Zionist Archive [henceforth: CZA] 61/ 24 A. 1916; Boord Matan (2011), ‘Yahasam shel Halutsey Emek-Hayarden Leyehudey Hayishuv Hayashan Be-Teveria, 1908–1930’ (MA thesis, University of Haifa), 71.
- 21.
Hana Ram (1986), Hayishuv Hayehudi Be-Yafo Ba’et Hahadasha Mikehila Sefaradit Lemerkaz Tsiyoni 1839–1939 (Jerusalem), 274–290.
- 22.
Ibid., 276–278.
- 23.
Such was the case in the Tel-Aviv Committee. In the Jaffa Committee, there were representatives from other social strata.
- 24.
Zevi Shiloni (1985), ‘Changes in Jewish Leadership During World War I’, Cathedra 35, 59–63 [Hebrew]; Abigail Jacobson (2009), ‘A City Living Through Crisis: Jerusalem During World War I’, British Journal of Middle East Studies 36:1, 73–92.
- 25.
The America relief committees which united under the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee became the prominent Jewish aid agency during the war. The JDC was not a Zionist organization but the aid to Palestine was organized together (and separately) with the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs that was established at the outbreak of the war, and in cooperation with the Secretary of State and the American ambassadors and consuls. The JDC sent money and food (especially rice and wheat). The first aid transport arrived at Jaffa on August 2014 on the US cruiser North Carolina with $50,000 and food supplies. See Nina Lubovitz (2011), ‘Hasiyu’a shel Yehude Artsot Habrit Lema’an Hayishuv Hayehudi Be-Erets-Israel Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona Veaharea, 1914–1921’ (MA thesis, University of Haifa).
- 26.
Since the archive of the Sephardi community in the city burned down, we do not have documentation regarding the activity of the committee; however, the fact of its existence is indisputable. Information about its activity can be found in the archive of the Ashkenazi Community Committee (HCA, 220/10) and from external publications such as Bein Hazmanim, which was published in Safed and represented the opinion of the new yishuv. The editor Waldstein rebuked the Sephardi community in Haifa for doing nothing to alleviate the situation despite the hardships of its members. Yanait Rachel and A.S. Waldstein (1916), Bein Hazmanim (Safed), 69. It is clear that this rebuke ignored the limited economic and organizational ability of the Sephardi committee in the city.
- 27.
From the beginning of the twentieth century and until the war, Sephardi Jews used the services of the Sephardi Hevra Kadishah. ‘Full Minutes of the Council, 26 March 1919’, HCA 220/08.
- 28.
Menachem Friedman (1978), Hevra Vedat, Haortodoksia Ha-lo Tsiyonit Be-Erets-Israel 1918–1936 (Jerusalem), 16–17.
- 29.
Nina Lubovitz (2011), ‘Hasiyu’a shel Yehude Artsot Habrit Lema’an Hayishuv Hayehudi Be-Erets-Israel Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona Veaharea, 1914–1921’ (MA thesis, University of Haifa).
- 30.
Natan Efrati (1991), Mimashber Letikva, 9–64.
- 31.
From Aharonson to Karniel, without date, CZA, J90/99.
- 32.
Zeev Perel (1999), Hamashber be-Zefat hayehudit be-milhemet haolam harishona (Thesis, Bar Ilan University), 115.
- 33.
The assessment conducted by Ruppin defined 5000 out of 7000 Jewish residents of Safed as poor. Ibid., 56.
- 34.
See for example the correspondence between Karniel and Kalvarisky, dated 15 January 1916, CZA, J15/6447.
- 35.
‘Minutes of the Support Committee’, 13 September 1914, HCA 220/9. Regarding attempts to increase the scope of the support, see for example, a letter from Aharonson to Ruppin, 20 June 1915, in Livne Eliezre (1969), Aharon Aharonson: Haish vezmano (Jerusalem), 190.
- 36.
Alboim-Dror (1990), ‘Hamilhama kehizdamnut’, 48–60.
- 37.
Menahem Sheinkin (1935), ‘Erets-Israel Bymot Hamilhama’, in Katavim, 1, Aharon Hermony, ed. (Jerusalem), 43.
- 38.
Yzak Bezalel (2007), Noladetem Tsiyonim: Ha-Sefaradim be-Erets-Israel Batsiyonut Uvathiya Ha’ivrit Batkufa Ha’otmanit (Jerusalem), 162–208.
- 39.
Ibid., 173–174.
- 40.
Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche (1931), Parashat Hayay 1870–1930 (Tel Aviv), 230–239.
- 41.
Natan Efrati (1991), Mimashber Letikva, 284–291.
- 42.
Gur Alroey (2006), ‘Golim be-artsam: Parashat megorashey Tel-Aviv Yafo bagalil hatahton, 1917–1918’, Cathedra 120, 138–143.
- 43.
Ibid., 140.
- 44.
In March 1917 Hillel Yaffe rebuked the people of Zichron Yaakov for the profits they made from transporting deportees from Jaffa. Hillel Yaffe (1971), Dor hama’apilim (Jerusalem), 384–385; also in Shimon Rubinstein (1985), Hanosah hamale shel hahe’arot shkatav Shimon Rubinstein le- vol. 2 shel hasefer: Mordechai Ben Hillel Hacohen, Milhemet Ha’amim, 2nd ed. (Jerusalem), 40.
- 45.
Abraham Almaliah (1929), Erez Israel ve- Syria Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona (Jerusalem), 105.
- 46.
Ibid., 105. The large majority of the population (in Galilee and Jerusalem) was indifferent to these events.
- 47.
Perel states that the first wave included 193 people who arrived directly from Jaffa. Perel (1999), ‘Hamashber be-Zefat hayehudit’, 75. Later another 724 were transferred from Tiberias due to illnesses. According to the data of the Migration Committee, in Alroey (2006), ‘Golim be-artsam’, 143.
- 48.
‘Meeting of the Migration Committee in Safed’, 25 August 1917. Shimon Rubinstein (1985), Hanosah hamale shel hahe’arot, 201. Efrati defines Jacobson’s assumption as a ‘local error’ which prevented the distribution of money to the local population. Efrati (1991), Mimashber Letikva, 302–303. But it seems that dismissing this matter as an ‘error’ ignores the previous complicated relations in the city.
- 49.
Meeting of the Migration Committee in Safed, 25 August 1917, Rubinstein (1985), Hanosah hamale shel hahe’arot, 201. In Haifa, for instance, the deportees were integrated in the community and its organization was remembered and described as the finest hour of the community. Anat Kidron (2009), ‘Va’ad Hakehila Vekinun Kehila ‘Al-’Adatit Be-Haifa Bemilhemet Ha’olam Harishona’, Iyunim Bitkumat Israel 19, 401–421, 417–419.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kidron, A. (2019). Towards a Consolidation of Zionist National Consciousness in Palestine During the First World War: A Local Urban Perspective. In: Madigan, E., Reuveni, G. (eds) The Jewish Experience of the First World War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54896-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54896-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54895-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54896-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)