The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 161)

غرض

عنوان

The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 161)

المحتوى

145
absentee and resident and 27 percent from fellaheen, or small landholders.*°
Besides the lack of control of the state by the European settlers, and the
predominantly small landholding nature of land, other factors limited the capacity
of settlers to acquire more land. An analysis of these factors goes beyond the scope
of this study, but stated briefly they are: First, the ability by the Zionist movement
to raise donated funds in Europe and the United States (their main source)
fluctuated according to the general economic conditions there; second, a sizable
proportion of the available funds had to go for the provision of housing, industrial
investments, and to meet other needs of the settlers; and third, when funds were
available, there was the counteracting force of the political and nationalist
resistance to the sale of land, especially when the motives of the Zionist movement
became clear to the Palestinian Arabs.
The immediate impact of the European settler acquisition of land on the
indigenous people was twofold. First, at a time of increasing population, debt, and
heavy taxation, limiting these acquisitions to exclusive Jewish use could only
intensify the pressure on the land for the Arab peasant and increase the tax and
debt burden. This is more so given the lack of resources needed for more intensive
agriculture. Second, there was the eviction of thousands of cultivators from these
lands. Exact numbers of evicted peasants are not available. Estimates are
incomplete over time and space and vary according to the definitions used to
specify the rights and nature of the relationship the peasant in question had with the
*Ibid., 278.
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The Dispossession of the Peasantry

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المنشئ

Riyad Mousa

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