The rise and decline of the Israeli moshav cooperative: A historical overview

The moshav (village smallholder cooperative) emerged in the early 1920s. In the next three decades, its cooperative structure and rules underwent some changes, in response to developments in its environment. During Israel's first statehood decade, the moshav became the country's most prevalent form of agricultural settlement. Then, for almost thirty years, structure and rules were 'frozen', despite the transformations which swept Israel's …