ABSTRACT
The Constitutional Dimension In the preceding chapters we have attempted to isolate the experience of the' Arab question' which was peculiar to the Palestinian Jews, and in so doing we found the ideas of hagan a and' Arab work' to be most relevant. But the Zionist world as a whole, including the Yishuv, was called upon during the period under discussion to direct its attention to another aspect of Zionist-British-Arab relations - the 'constitutional-legal' dimension. In the first years of the British Mandate we can trace the development of a triangular relationship between: (a) Arab objections to the Zionist aspects of the new constitutional arrangements for Palestine; (b) successive British attempts to satisfy some of these 'constitutional grievances'; and (c) the endeavours of Zionists to safeguard their position during the course ofthe British-Arab tug-of-war on these questions,
To a large extent this struggle involved the non-Yishuv machinery of Zionist-British diplomatic relations and highlevel representations both in Jerusalem and in London. Under these circumstances, the Yishuv and the Va'ad Leumi were relegated to relatively passive and secondary roles. Yet, if the local Palestinian Jews were not actively in control of the political manoeuvring which was affecting their constitutional
fate, they were nevertheless keenly sensitive to the dangers and the difficulties, and were able, on occasion, to bring their views to bear on the situation.
