Exiled in the Homeland: Zionism and the Return to Mandate Palestine »

A specialist in Middle East politics, DONNA ROBINSON DIVINE is Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Government at Smith College. Her previous books include Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine, and she recently served as co-editor of Postcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israel Conflict. She lives in Connecticut.

Offering a new perspective on Zionism, Exiled in the Homeland draws on memoirs, newspaper accounts, and archival material to examine closely the lives of the men and women who immigrated to Palestine in the early twentieth century. Rather than reducing these historic settlements to a single, unified theme, Donna Robinson Divine's research reveals an extraordinary spectrum of motivations and experiences among these populations.

Though British rule and the yearning for a Jewish national home contributed to a foundation of solidarity, Exiled in the Homeland presents the many ways in which the message of emigration settled into the consciousness of the settlers. Considering the benefits and costs of their Zionist commitments, Divine explores a variety of motivations and outcomes, ranging from those newly arrived immigrants who harnessed their ambition for the goal of radical transformation to those who simply dreamed of living a better life. Also capturing the day-to-day experiences in families that faced scarce resources, as well as the British policies that shaped a variety of personal decisions on the part of the newcomers, Exiled in the Homeland provides new keys to understanding this pivotal chapter in Jewish history.

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 3

1 Dispossession, Displacement, and Dreams: The Meanings of Auto-Emancipation 19

2 Great Britain's Colonial Venture: The Starting Point 51

3 Making Concessions: Zionist Immigration Politics 76

4 Mishnah Impossible: Zionist Attempts to Transform the Jewish People 102

5 No Kaddish for Exile, No Path to Redemption 133

6 Unsung Heroes 166

Conclusion: Vital Statistics and the Statistics Vital for a Jewish State 199

Notes 209

Glossary 231

Bibliography 233

Index 247