Lower galilee farmers association: A dominant organization in a peripheral environment

In 1901, in the Lower Galilee, the JCA, a Jewish philanthropic organization, established a region of rural settlements aimed at creating independent Jewish farmers. During World War I, the settlers established a regional committee, the Lower Galilee Farmers Association. During its 30-year existence, the Association developed a complex process of alienation between itself and the farmers it was supposed to represent. The Association widened its realm of activity beyond the economic to the social, until it finally decided that it had the right to determine national values for the settlers. This article will present the Association's organizational attitude, its approach to the economic problems that were affecting the farmers, and the way it dealt with the national ethos of the time.