The Palestinian Peasant Economy under the Mandate: A Story of Colonial Bungling

412 Pages·2006·6.58 MB·English

by  Amos Nadan

PEASANT ECONOMY
UNDER THE MANDATE
EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE CMES MONOGRAPH SERIES
Steven Caton
Cemal Kafadar
Susan M. Kahn (Chair)
Roy Mottahedeh
Roger Owen
HARVARD MIDDLE EASTERN MONOGRAPHS
The Palestinian
Peasant Economy
under the
Mandate
A Story of Colonial Bungling
Amos Nadan
DISTRIBUTED FOR THE
CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY BY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON,ENGLAND
The photo of a fallah plowing in a field was taken by Zev
Vilnay in 1930 next to the El Midya village in Ramie Sub
District (photo number 631, Zev Vilnay*s collection, Yad
Izhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem).
Copyright 2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
ISBN 0-932885-31-4
Library of Congress Catalog Number 2005931376
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures ix
List of Maps and Documents xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Note on Transliteration xvii
Principal Currencies and Measurements xix
Introduction xii
PART I: THE POLITICAL SETTING AND THE
ARAB RURAL ECONOMY 1
1 • Politics and the Arab Rural Economy 3
PART II: TRENDS IN THE ARAB
RURAL ECONOMY 51
2 • Investment, Specialization, and Produce in Arab
Agriculture 53
3 • Growth, Income, and Development 124
v
VI Contents
PART III: THE FALLAHIN ECONOMY
AND BRITISH REFORMS 165
4 • The Rural Institutions of the Fallahln 167
5 • Credit for the Fallahln: An Illusory Shift 212
6 • Land Reform and Mush a‘ Lands 261
7 • Government Agricultural Services:
Limited Relief 299
Conclusions 337
Bibliography 343
Index 363
List of Tables
Table LI: Gross Income and Expenditure of 104 Palestinian xxvii
Villages, 1930
Table 1.1: Characteristic of Sellers of Land to Jews 14
Table 1.2: Estimated Cost of Land Purchased by Jews, 1920 to 18
1936
Table 1.3: Estimated Rural and Urban Settled Populations in 20
Palestine
Table 2.1: Schedule of Cultivated and Irrigated Lands in Palestine, 60
1947
Table 2.2: Village Statistics, Categories of Lands 74
Table 2.3: Overview of Changes according to the Village Statistics, 76
1935 to 1945
Table 2.4: Village Land in Palestine (in dunums) 78
Table 2.5: Arab Cultivated Lands in Palestine (approximate figures) 84
Table 2.6: Slaughtered Animals from Imports and from Local 103
Supply
Table 3.1: Sectoral Distribution of the Arab Labor Force in 128
Mandate Palestine
Table 3.2: TFP Components 142
Table 3.3: Government Index of Volume of Wage Employment, for 151
the Total Population of Palestine, 1938 to 1946
Table 5.1: Arab Credit Cooperative Societies, 1933 to 1947 226
vii
viii List of Tables
Table 5.2: Short-Term Crop Loans for Arabs, Lydda District, 1944 236
to 1947
Table 5.3: Loans Provided to Cooperative Societies in Lydda 238
District
Table 6.1: Total Trend of Changes (Settled versus Unsettled), in 282
Percentages
Table 6.2: Base Data for Cases A, B, and C 284
Table 7.1: Expenditure on Agriculture by the Department of 302
Agriculture, £P 1936 Prices
Table 7.2: Ratio of Uncastrated Male Animals on Acre Farm 313
Compared to the Rest of the Country, 1936 to 1937
Table 7.3: Beehive Loans, 1934 to 1936 315
Table 7.4: Loans Issued in Cases of Distress, 1929 to 1935 324
Table 7.5: Direct Government Loans to Arab and Jewish Farmers, 326
1919 to 1939
Table 7.6: Direct Government Loans to Arab and Jewish Farmers, 328
1940 to 1944
List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Arab Labor in Jewish Employment 7
Figure 1.2: Changes in Arab Ownership of Land in Selected 11
Subdistricts, 1935 to 1945
Figure 1.3: Retail Prices of Arab and Jewish Commodities 24
Figure 1.4: Animal Tax: Per Animal Head 30
Figure 1.5: Arab Rural Direct Taxes 32
Figure 1.6: Arab Rural Direct Taxes per Capita Rural Inhabitants 33
Figure 1.7: Taxes Paid to the Mandatory Government 33
Figure 1.8: Taxes Paid by Different Branches of the Economy per 34
Capita
Figure 1.9: Services Received from the Government Relative to 34
Taxes Paid
Figure 2.1: Lands in Jewish Possession and Cultivated Jewish Lands 80
Figure 2.2: Change in Quality and Quantity of “Non-Jewish” 81
Land, 1935 to 1945
Figure 2.3: Gross Income and Prices for Certain Crops, in Constant 87
Prices
Figure 2.4: Citrus in Palestine: Area Cultivated and Cases 90
Exported, 1936 to 1945
Figure 2.5 Rough Approximation of Gross Income from the Main 93
Branches of Arab Agriculture (excluding Arab)
Figure 2.6: Arab and Jewish Shares in the Farming of Distinct 95
Crops, 1945
Figure 2.7 Index of Yield per Dunum, Grains and Legumes 96
IX
X List of Figures
Figure 2.8 Index of Yield per Dunum, Tree Fruits 96
Figure 2.9 Index of Yield per Dunum, Vegetables and Melons 97
Figure 2.10: Index of Pre-1930 Government Estimates of Livestock 98
Figure 2.11: Livestock in Palestine According to Censuses 1930 to 100
1943
Figure 2.12: Change in Percentages in Livestock in Palestine, 1930 101
to 1943
Figure 2.13: Rough Estimate of Livestock in Arab Ownership 1930 104
and 1943
Figure 2.14: Rough Estimate of Change in Total Livestock in Arab 105
Ownership and Livestock per Capita Rural Inhabitants,
1930 and 1943
Figure 2.15: Rough Estimate of Livestock Value in Arab 106
Ownership, 1930 and 1943
Figure 2.16: Value of Livestock in Arab Ownership per Capita 107
Rural Inhabitants, 1930 and 1943
Figure 2.17: Index of Constant Prices of Agricultural Products 110
Figure 2.18: Index of Net Urban-Rural Barter Terms of Trade 111
Figure 3.1: Trends in Arab and Jewish Net National Product per 126
Capita, 1922 to 1947
Figure 3.2: Arab Net National Product in Constant Prices, 1922 to 127
1947
Figure 3.3: Linear Regression with Time-Series Data 129
Figure 3.4: Net Product of Arab Agriculture 131
Figure 3.5: Index of Net Product of Arab Agriculture (Including 131
Citrus)
Figure 3.6: Net Product of Arab Agriculture per Rural Inhabitant 133
Figure 3.7: Trends in Net Product of Arab Agriculture 138
Figure 3.8: Trends in Net Product of Arab Agriculture per Rural 140
Inhabitant
Figure 3.9: Daily Real Wages for Low-Skilled Arab Labor in 148
Noncitrus Agriculture and Construction
Figure 3.10: Raw Index of Human Development in the Arab Sector 153
Figure 3.11: Government Expenditures on Health and Education 156
Figure 3.12: Net National and Agricultural Products per Capita 158
Figure 4.1: Index of Changes in Agricultural Commodity Prices 176
Figure 4.2: Modes of Occupation of Owner-Cultivator Family 182
Heads, 1930