Yemenite Jews were recruited to replace Arab workers at Arab wage levels.

Evidence

There is a certain poignancy in these images in view of the actual conditions endured by Yemenite Jews during the unsuccessful experiment known as the Yavnieli aliya (1910–14). Following a spontaneous immigration in 1909 of Yemenite Jews who settled and worked in the moshavot an emissary, Shmuel Yavniely, was sent from Palestine to the Yemen to encourage more Jews to come to Palestine. The intention was that they would replace Arab workers in the Jewish settlements as part of what was called the “Conquest of Labor.” Gershon Shafir argues that this initiative combined the preference of the planters for cheap labor and the preference of the Zionists for Jewish agricultural workers who would be able to compete successfully with the Arabs in the labor market. Thus the Yemenite Jews were thought to be the ideal solution to satisfy both nationalist and capitalist interests as “they were Jewish workers who were to be paid Arab wages.” — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 619

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the history of labor exploitation within Zionism, echoes patterns in my reading on extralegal labor markets and ethnic-role assignment in colonial economies. — connects to: De-agrarianization turned self-employed Palestinians into wage workers in Israel, deepening dependency — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 326
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 619