The 1928 Agricultural Exhibition in Jaffa: Showcasing Palestine's Modern Promise

In April 1928, Jaffa hosted the First Palestine Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, a landmark event that drew thousands of visitors from across the region and Europe. Sponsored by the British Mandate government and organized by Zionist and Arab leaders alike, the exhibition showcased Jaffa oranges, olive oil, textiles, and machinery in a sprawling fairground near the old city. This episode explores the exhibition's origins, its role in promoting economic development under colonial rule, and the tensions it revealed between Arab and Jewish farmers competing for markets. We meet key figures like Arab mayor As'ad al-Shuqeiri and Zionist agronomist Chaim Kalvarisky, and examine how the fair became a stage for competing national visions. The exhibition also featured a model Arab village and a Hebrew School exhibit, highlighting the cultural divides beneath the surface of progress. Drawing on newspapers like Filastin and Davar, and memoirs of attendees, we uncover a forgotten moment when Palestine's future seemed negotiable through trade and irrigation. But the exhibition's success masked deeper struggles over land, labor, and identity that would soon erupt. For listeners who know the later conflicts, this fair offers a rare glimpse of a Palestine that might have been.

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