Damascus Gate

There is a constant and noticeable thread amongst most of the proponents of Zionism during its infancy that the influx of Jews into Palestine would actually be beneficial to the people there.  This belief is very much rooted in the colonial beliefs at the time, that the European influence in less developed areas would serve to bring those areas up to western standards.  This belief is stated in Herzl’s pamphlet called “The Jew’s State:  An Attempt as a Modern Solution to the Issue of the Jews”.

Some of the first Jewish settlers in Palestine (1880s and 1890s) used this as their justification for hiring Arabs to work their lands.  Later immigrants who came under the Zionist movement proper valued manual labor as a means of building the country and of transforming the Jewish culture.  The early immigrants said that by hiring Arabs, they were benefiting the local population which would lead to better relations.

Even the Zionist critic Ahad Ha’ad, who condems Jews in Palestine for their mistreatment of Arabs, believes that this will all be overcome once their “extensive and rich holdings, their unity, and their exemplary way of life” becomes more a way of life.

Obviously this has not come to be.