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The Last Decade Jerusalem life during the thirty years of the Mandate was , in great measure , lived under the shadow of the bloody riots that were the most extreme expression of the tensions between Jews and Arabs : the 1921 “ disturbances , ” the 1929 “ disturbances , ” and the 1936-1939 “ disturbances ” (“ the Great Arab Revolt” ) . The last decade of Mandatory rule was marked primarily by the two major events that fashioned the life of the Yishuv : the Second World War , and the struggle to establish the Jewish state , that intensified towards the end of the war and became central in the life of the Yishuv during the years 1945-1948 . Life in Israel was replete with contradictions . On the one hand , anxiety and a sense of strangulation in light of the advance of Rommel’s army ; and on the other , an atmosphere of economic prosperity , resulting from the dramatic drop in unemployment ( that had reached a high point in 1939-1940 ) following the increasingly large orders by the British army and the enlistment of thousands in the army . On the one hand , regarding the many British soldiers who arrived in Eretz Israel as intimate allies in the struggle against Nazi Germany ; and on the other , tension about the day after the war , on which the well-liked partner was liable to become a hated foe who would bar Jewish aliyahand take pains to frustrate the struggle for the establishment of the Jewish state . In certain respects , Jerusalem was the point where these contradictions intersected , not especially due to the uniqueness of its mixed population , but mainly as a result of its being the center of British rule and the seat of the Yishuv’s national institutions . Cultural life in the city suffered somewhat from the restrictions of wartime conditions , but it did not cease . The Habimah theater would come to Jerusalem , and so did the Ohel theater company , along with , from the end of 1944 , the young Cameri Theater . Like the theater companies , the Tel Aviv Philharmonic Orchestra performed for its subscribers in Jerusalem on a regular basis . In the musical realm , however , the Jerusalemites also had local ensembles that filled their needs , foremost of which was the Kol Yerushalayim Orchestra , which held its weekly Tuesday concerts at the YMCA . The various cultural groups met and discussed all manner of cultural and intellectual questions , in informal literary salons that came into existence in various neighborhoods throughout the city . Wartime scarcities and blackout conditions did not prevent such meetings from taking place over a cup of tea every Sabbath morning . Professors and students , intellectuals , artists , and writers would gather for extended conversations . This Jerusalem lifestyle of the end of the British Mandate , is portrayed in a series of literary works , almost all of which were by writers who either lived in the city , or who had grown up there and preserved their memories and experiences , writers such as Agnon , Hayyim Hazaz , Yitzhak Shenhar , David Shahar , Shulamit Hareven , and Amos Oz . 1 The Jewish community in Palestine prior to 1882 , that was distinctly religious in nature ( and even ultra-Orthodox , by modern criteria ) . 2 The Jewish community in Eretz Israel between 1882 and the establishment of the State of Israel . 3 Financial support for Jews in Eretz Israel ( i . e ., the Old Yishuv ) by Jews in the Diaspora . 4 I . e ., those who breached the “ walls ” of the traditional way of life . 5 The Jewish community in Eretz Israel before the establishment of the State of Israel . 6 “ The Voice of Jerusalem ” - the Hebrew language transmissions of the Mandatory Palestine Broadcasting Service . 7 Rural farming settlements ( colonies ) . 8 A term used for the rural collective settlements . 9 A derogatory term for German-speaking immigrants ; later , it would often be used affectionately . 10 Immigration to Eretz Israel .
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