Class and nation in the Jewish settlement of Palestine: the case of Merhavia, 1910–30

This article examines the relationship between ideology and settlement in early twentieth-century Palestine by tracing the evolution of one co-operative, Merhavia, located at the heart of the «ideological settlement core» in the northern Jezreel valley. The study begins by looking at how socialist Zionist ideology was redefined in order to endorse permanent settlement where earlier it had rejected it. The article then examines two phases of further ideological change. In the first, class-based strategies were replaced by national solutions which favoured an exclusive Jewish economy. In the second, an «ideology from below» in the form of egalitarian and collectivist values was asserted, with the effect of destroying the Merhavia co-operative while sustaining its main rival, the kibbutz. Far from marking a clash between «ideology» and «geographical realities» the new ideologies provided the most effective long-term solution for settlement, one that would hold sway for over half a century.