Hebrew community organizations in the mixed cities of Mandatory Palestine and the creation of the Jewish national home

This article focuses on the Jewish community committees established in the mixed cities of Mandatory Palestine and their role as an agent for instilling nationalistic consciousness and shaping political autonomy in the municipal domain. It examines the way the different committees operated organizationally and politically as well as their impact on the daily lives of the Jewish inhabitants. We look at the attempt of the local Zionist leaders to enlist the community committees to define the autonomous status of the Jews vis-à-vis the British Mandate and municipal government, and explore the use of instrumental nationalism to boost the sense of national and community belonging of the Jewish inhabitants, particularly the old-timers. The article pays special attention to welfare services and education as a tool for building nationalistic consciousness. Our comparative analysis shows that paradigms of Jewish settlement varied greatly and the Jewish communal framework in each city was unique. An important factor in the success of the committees was the economic and demographic expansion of the Zionist immigrants into existing urban centres, which paved the way for instilling Jewish nationalistic values through bureaucratic means.