In 1933 and 1934, two Arab fairs were held at the Palace Hotel in Jerusalem as a direct response to the Zionist industrial and commercial exhibition that opened and saw great success in Tel Aviv (the Levant Fair). The Arab fairs showcased the agricultural and industrial advancements taking place across the Arab world, becoming moments of defiance, unity, and cultural affirmation during British Mandate Palestine. They brought together products manufactured across the region, as well as crafts and artworks. Visitors could encounter everything from Nabulsi soap to Damascene textiles, perfumes from Tripoli, and more.1
The Arab Exhibitions of 1933 and 1934 were milestones in both Palestinian and broader Arab history. Organized during a period of mounting struggle against British and French colonial rule, as well as against Zionist settlement in Palestine, they asserted Arab progress and cooperation at a time of political division, projecting a powerful vision of regional solidarity.2 Beyond the exhibitions themselves, enduring artifacts—such as posters, stamps, and designs by Palestinian artist Jamal Badran, the exhibitions’ chief illustrator (see Jamal Badran)—evoked a borderless Arab map with Jerusalem at the center.3