Arab-Jewish Contacts in Palestine After the First World War

Abstract

During 1918-19, when official British and Zionist priorities were placed on relations with the Amir Faisal', it was a matter of policy for Zionists to avoid any semblance of official discussions with local Arabs in Syria or Palestine.2 With the exception of some private meetings, and in spite of some deviations, this line was largely followed by local Yishuv leaders. When, for example, an American member of the Zionist Commission [hereafter ZC] sought to depart from this rule in June 1919 and suggested 'the possibility of discussing directly the current political problems with leading Arabs', two local personalities advised that 'the results of such meetings would be meagre'.3 On the whole, direct political discussions with local Arabs were shunned as unpromising or inexpedient. All activity, in any case, was to be judged against the backdrop of the peace talks in Europe. Any real breakthrough was expected to come from abroad, and local diplomacy was considered of marginal value. The first postwar Zionist initiatives on the local level revealed two difficulties which would recur throughout the Mandate period: firstly, the problems associated with appealing to the 'materialistic instincts' of the Arabs; and secondly, the official Zionist leadership's difficulty in controlling unauthorized attempts by persistent individuals to establish their own good relations with local Arab notables. In 1919, H. M. Kalvaryski (a land-purchase agent and controversial specialist on Arab affairs) quickly found himself acting against the dominant tendency when he refused to abstain from political contacts with local Arabs. In the spring of that year, he approached Arab notables in Syria and Palestine with the aim of softening their attitutde towards Zionism before the arrival of the American (King-Crane) Commission. At one point he caused a scandal in official Jewish circles by trying to organize