Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 124)
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- Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 124)
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the process of land expropriation. Although all the literature alludes
to the same example, the sale of the land previously owned by the
Sursuks, no evidence has ever been provided to demonstrate why it was
more beneficial for the owners to sell the land than to utilize it
themselves for capitalistic purposes. Most importantly, though, is the
fact that underlying all these explanations is the assumption that
the transfer was a peaceful process.
In the following, three cases of land ‘transfer' will be discussed,
The Marj land, referred to as the "Sursuk's sale", Zeita village and
the village of Wadi al-Hawareth.
Case One: The Sursuk's Transfer of the Marj:
One of the major sources of land appropriated by the Zionist
colonial companies was the so-called Sursuk Sales. The Sursuks were
said to own a large area in Palestine estimated at about 500,0004.
Part of this land was in the plain of the Esdrealon or the Marj and
the other part in the Huleh plain. What is of particular concern here
is the land estimated at 240,000d. in the Marj plain.
The whole area of the Marj was estimated at 400,000d. of which
372,000d. were cultivable. (4) In the early 1920s, most of this land,
estimated at 240,000d. and comprising over 20 villages were
transferred to certain Zionist colonial companies.
The ‘transfer' of this land resulted in the expropriation of
thousands of peasant families, who for generations had worked this
land as their only source of living.
To comprehend the case of the Marj transfer, the question as to why
this land was chosen as the first coionial enterprise will be dealt
with first.
Views on the importance of the Marj to the Zionist colonial project
110
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- المنشئ
- Nahla Abdo-Zubi
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