The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 162)

غرض

عنوان
The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 162)
المحتوى
146
land and his subsequent condition.*’ It has been pointed out that regardless of its
quantitative dimension, the impact of evictions has to be evaluated in terms of its
uprooting of whole communities (villages).** However, the essence of evictions
can only be understood as the practical consequence of the forceful imposition of
the modern Western legal notions of ownership and possession on a primarily
agricultural society with its long history of traditions that specified different notions
of ownership and use of land. The fact that compensation was sometimes offered
and actually received by some is irrelevant given that the evictees had no choice in
the manner of their separation from the means of production. Nor is the fact that
some evictees found alternative sources of income any more relevant. Finally, and
critically, was the role played by European acquisitions in the fast and intensive
commoditization of land, to be discussed later.
3.3.3 Arab Landholding:
No cadastral survey was ever undertaken during the mandate, and thus it is
not possible to arrive at exact figures for landholdings and distribution. However,
there were three surveys that clearly illustrate the general state of landholding and
distribution, and shed more light on the worsening conditions of peasants in terms
*7As an example of the different estimates of a particular case (the acquisition
of Sursock lands in Majbn Amer), see United Kingdom, Palestine, Parliamentary
Command Papers 3530, Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of
August 1929, Shaw Commission Report (London: HMG Publications, 1930), 118;
Hope-Simpson Report, 51; Survey I, 295-308.
87ureik, A Study, 46.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
تاريخ
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المنشئ
Riyad Mousa

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