Towards a Consolidation of Zionist National Consciousness in Palestine During the First World War: A Local Urban Perspective

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.