Land of Progress : Palestine in the Age of Colonial Development, 1905-1948

Histories of Palestine in the pre-1948 period usually assume the emergent Arab-Zionist conflict to be the central axis around which all change revolves. In __Land of Progress__ Jacob Norris suggests an alternative historical vocabulary is needed to broaden our understanding of the region's recent past. In particular, for the architects of empire and their agents on the ground, Palestine was conceived primarily within a developmental discourse that pervaded colonial practice from the turn of the twentieth century onwards. A far cry from the post-World War II focus on raising living standards, colonial development in the early twentieth century was more interested in infrastructure and the exploitation of natural resources. __Land of Progress__ charts this process at work across both the Ottoman and British periods in Palestine, focusing on two of the most salient but understudied sites of development anywhere in the colonial world: the Dead Sea and Haifa. Weaving the experiences of local individuals into a wider narrative of imperial expansion and anti-colonial resistance, Norris demonstrates the widespread excitement Palestine generated among those who saw themselves at the vanguard of progress and modernisation, whether they were Ottoman or British, Arab or Jewish. Against this backdrop, Norris traces the gradual erosion during the mandate period of the mixed style of development that had prevailed under the Ottoman Empire, as the new British regime viewed Zionism as the sole motor of modernisation. As a result, the book's latter stages relate the extent to which colonial development became a central issue of contestation in the struggle for Palestine that unfolded in the 1930s and 40s. Cover 1 Table of Contents 6 List of Illustrations and Tables 8 List of Abbreviations and Currencies 9 Note on Transliteration and Translation 11 Introduction 14 Starting points 14 The first age of colonial development 18 Towards a multi-centred view of development 31 1. Ottoman Colonial Development: Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean 39 Colonial time frames 39 i. Extract and export: the growth of port cities in Ottoman Syria 42 ii. Palestine in the era of Ottoman development: merchants and intellectuals 48 iii. The emergence of Haifa as an Ottoman port city 60 iv. The road to the Dead Sea: mineral prospecting in the late Ottoman era 67 2. Agents of Development: Jews, Arabs, and the Middlemen of Empire 76 Wartime transformations 76 i. Colonial development and empire migration after the First World War 82 ii. Jewish ‘utility’ in the wider colonial world 88 iii. Images of Jews in the British colonial imagination 94 iv. Middle men in the ‘Middle Sea’ 104 3. The ‘City of the Future’: Haifa, Capital of British Palestine 112 The gateway to a British Middle East 112 i. Haifa as a new exit point for raw materials 115 ii. All routes lead to Haifa: railways and air travel 122 iii. Britain’s agents of development in Haifa: Zionist industry and Jewish workers 133 iv. Doing business on Kingsway 145 4. Palestine’s ‘Undeveloped Estate’: The Exploitation of the Dead Sea 152 A cursed but precious lake 152 i. Dead Sea exploration and the compilation of a canon of expertise 155 ii. ‘Whoever holds the Dead Sea holds the key to the Middle East’ 163 iii. Bringing the dead to life in the age of colonial development 173 5. Toxic Waters: Contesting British Development at Haifa and the Dead Sea 181 i. Haifa and the Arab struggle against British colonial development 184 ii. Contesting British development at the Dead Sea 194 iii. Poison in the water: 1948 and the end of British colonial development 209 Conclusion: The Legacies of Development 218 Bibliography 225 Index 242 A 242 B 242 C 244 D 245 E 245 F 246 G 246 H 246 I 247 J 248 K 249 L 249 M 249 N 250 O 250 P 251 Q 252 R 252 S 252 T 253 U 253 V 253 W 253 Y 254 Z 254 "Land of progress" brings Palestinian history out of the narrow confines of the Arab-Zionist conflict by restoring Palestine to the wider history of empire in the early twentieth century. It demonstrates the extent to which Palestine was viewed as a crucial sphere of British colonial expansion after World War I and challenges the notion that Britain was merely a hapless arbiter in the emergent Arab-Zionist conflict in Palestine. "Land of progress" analyses Ottoman and British colonial practice in Palestine in a comparative framework and it demonstrates the extent to which notions of industrial modernity and progress were universally shared among political and merchant classes in Palestine, whether they were Ottoman, British, Arab, or Jewish. Finally the book highlights the importance of specific colonial development projects at the Dead Sea and Haifa. -- Publisher website A Study Of Palestine In The Early Twentieth Century That Takes A Step Back From The Intricacies Of The Arab-zionist Conflict Focusing Instead On The Country's Position Within The Broader History Of Empire And Anti-colonial Resistance. Jacob Norris. Includes Bibliographical References (pages [212]-227) And Index.