ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the rise of the Palestinian Arab middle class during the Mandate. The rise of the middle class accelerated during the British Mandate. The Christians were largely an urban community, and many of them gained knowledge and skills via the European education they received in church missionary schools. Christian anti-Zionism was also influenced by a religious anti-Jewish tradition and their traditional economic rivalry with Jews under the Ottomans, which continued during the Mandate period in the framework of government service. Their involvement in anti-Zionist activity, if only in declarative form, was also intended to counter the pro-British label that was frequently attached to them. The actions taken by villagers against the middle class, Christians in particular, during the Mandate, especially during the Revolt, were motivated by social, cultural, economic, and class factors. The Palestinian Arab national movement sought to bridge the old Christian-Muslim divide.
