After World War I Palestine rapidly turned from being a loosely defined geographical area within the defunct Ottoman empire into a well-delineated territorial and administrative entity, unified by the British Mandate and its modern government. Several major developments took place under the British rule: on the one hand, Jewish immigration grew substantially, Zionist land acquisition expanded, and a thriving Jewish national community, run by self-established and officially recognized autonomous institutions, was taking form. On the other hand, partly in response to the Zionist “nation-building” aspirations and settlement, the period saw the crystallization of the Palestinian-Arab national movement and the intensification of the ethno-national conflict (which is still very much with us) between Arabs and Jews over territory, political domination, and self-determination. It follows that although the Mandate period lasted less than thirty years, it constitutes a highly significant and formative era in the history of modern Palestine.

Scholars have long been attracted to this fascinating and important chapter in the history of the country and its peoples. A large number of studies on Mandatory Palestine have appeared, addressing, among other topics, the economic scene which was a major component of the story. But since most of the scholarly work in the field was done by political historians, political scientists, and sociologists, economic issues were generally treated as part of the political and socio-political context. In this literature attention was therefore given mainly to the economic policies of the government, to their effects on Arabs and Jews, and to the political motivations and implications of the economic relations (or lack thereof) between the two peoples, specifically, their interactions in the land and labor markets.