‘The flying camel’: defending Jewish state-building in mandatory Palestine on the Levant Fairs of Tel Aviv in the 1930s

Abstract

ABSTRACT This contribution analyzes the international trade fairs of Tel Aviv during the 1930s, the so-called ‘Levant Fairs,’ as a Zionist means to defend Jewish pre-state presence in Mandatory Palestine. To do so, it is concerned with the Levant Fairs’ international and regional context. It is shown that first, the Levant Fairs promoted the Zionist state-building endeavours to an international audience; and second, the Levant Fairs revealed the declining support of the British, and an increasing struggle with the Palestinian Arabs. The arguments are supported by press articles concerning the fairs themselves.