ABSTRACT
This essay examines how Zionist legitimacy and authority were attained through the construction of institutions to control the three factors of production—land, labor, and capital—in the years 1882–1914, during the first two waves of Jewish immigration and settlement. These institutional arrangements enabled the creation of a republican form of citizenship and a Jewish citizen-settler population able to reach a “European standard of living” in Palestine. Taking the long-term view, these arrangements and accompanying sense of entitlement among these settlers served as major barriers to decolonization.
