The Thessaloniki Jewish pioneers in the Haifa waterfront, 1929–32

This article traces the economic history of the small Jewish maritime community in its hometown of Thessaloniki during the 1920s and its new home of Haifa in the early 1930s. The Thessalonikians’ strong connection to port occupations made them an ideal pioneer in the Zionist scheme of creating a Jewish maritime presence in Mandatory Palestine. The Thessalonikians’ arrival in the Arab-dominated Haifa waterfront led to continuous conflict. The article examines the encounter between the Thessaloniki port culture and the Arab one in Haifa and its reflection in the core issue of the Jewish hold in the port of Haifa.