Bourgeois Arab Society in Jerusalem under British Colonial Rule

Abstract

The Palestinian-Arab middle class in Jerusalem during the British Mandate may be characterized as bourgeois and educated, similar to its counterpart in the West. Members of the Arab middle class, mostly Christians, but also Muslims, adopted modern habits, ideas, and customs in their daily lives that distinguished them from other classes, similar to the middle class in the West and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Jerusalem’s Arab middle class, however, differed from that in other towns because it was a white-collar bourgeoisie. Certain bourgeois social and cultural features, as well as its members’ dependence on the British, prevented them from being fully incorporated into the Palestinian-Arab National Movement, and even alienated them from the national leadership and the lower social strata, particularly in the villages. The action taken by villagers against the Jerusalem middle class during the Mandate, most notably during the 1936-1939 Arab Riots, were motivated by social, cultural, economic, and class factors, and the Jerusalem middle class’s reluctance to take part in violent resistance, especially during the revolt, stemmed from these reasons.