Page "1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine" Paragraph 15

Initially, the conflict with Zionism helped to make Palestinian Arab society more conservative in cultural, social, religious and political affairs because people were highly motivated to preserve their distinct heritage and identity against the dual impact of British colonialism and Jewish innovation.

Traditionally, the Arabs had an elite, but not a real leadership.

Both of these things changed over the course of the 1930s.

During this period new political organizations and new types of activist began to appear, marking the involvement of a far broader cross-section of the population ; in particular, nationalism, which had been long-rooted in rural society began to take hold in urban society.