This study examines the major forms of Jewish agricultural
settlement that emerged in Palestine under Turkish and British
rule, and analyzes the main social factors related to their creation
and development.

Our examination of patterns and processes of colonization
focuses on three basic types of rural community: the moshava,
the colony of privately owned and individually operated farms;
the kibbutz, the collective settlement (more precisely, one of
its several varieties); and the moshav, the smallholders' cooper-
ative village. The study draws primarily on contemporary docu-
ments, but it has not been our purpose to trace and describe the
historical process as a whole. The point of departure was rather
analytical-comparative: we have concentrated mainly on a set of
specific social problems that we believed to be of general signifi-
cance.

The main themes can be summarized as follows:

1. The character and the significance of the original coloniz-
ing impetuses or drives that produced the different settlement
patterns. The way in which the initial push to create a new rural
form of life crystallized is approached in terms of the social
properties of the founding fathers. That is, we examine: the
composition, scope, cohesion, and internal organization of this
group and its capabilities for sustained action; its position in the
social structure and its command over different types of re-
sources; and the intensity and nature of the group's commitment

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