The colonial swamp in Mandatory Palestine: the Na’amien wetlands between local and global British interests in Palestine

The article focuses on the story of the Na’amien swamp south of Acre, one of Palestine’s most extensive swamps, an area where many plans to control it were begun and failed throughout the Mandatory period but were only finally addressed following the establishment of the State of Israel. Colonial and Zionist environmental stances often point to similar views regarding land development and the advantages Mandatory rule provided the Zionist movement at the expense of the Arab-Palestinian population. This article will argue that the environmental British policy was not formulated merely due to similarities and common interests of the authorities and the Zionists. There was also a complex set of considerations typified by internal contradictions, varying interpretations of progress as justification for colonialism, and changing responses to local economic and political developments and to changing British interests in the European arena.