Abstract
The U.N. decision to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states threatened the existence of Palestine Potash Ltd., the country's largest industrial enterprise, in which Jews, Arabs, and the British were involved. Moise Novomeysky, the company's founder and managing director, unsuccessfully attempted to rescue Palestine Potash from what he viewed as an improperly conceived plan, by suggesting proposals for regional cooperation. He feared the company could not survive the self-destructive power of bitterly antagonistic crosscurrents both within and between the Jewish and Arab communities. Indeed, nearly half a century later, any partition of the area would still need to address some of the fundamental issues Novomeysky had identified as impediments to a largescale economic enterprise that attempts to operate across a region divided into competing national entities. A week after partition, the company's main base on the north of the Dead Sea was destroyed by Jews and then by Arabs. After a hiatus, competing Israeli and Jordanian companies were organized as successors to Palestine Potash, and Novomeysky's fortunes and reputation were severely injured. The dissolution of the company is examined through an analysis of the objectives and perspectives of the Jewish and the Jordanian political and military leadership, and of the company's Jewish workers.