Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 7)

غرض

عنوان

Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 7)

المحتوى

Foreword
THIS PUBLICATION is not meant to be a study of the land situation in
Palestine as it existed during the period of the Mandate. Its purpose is merely
to reproduce the important yet little known detailed data which the Palestine
Government had put out during the latter years of the Mandate in the form
of Village Statistics, giving the names of the towns and villages comprising
Palestine, figures of the population by community, the classification of the
soil for fiscal purposes, and the ownership holdings of the land as between
Arabs, Jews, Public and Others as on 1 April 1945, This study is also intended
to draw attention to certain defects in the ‘Village Statistics’ publications of
the Palestine Government and to explain their effect on Arab rights and inter-
ests, particularly in view of the situation which has arisen after 1948 as a
result of the creation of the state of Israel.?
The original document had limited circulation when it was first pub-
lished, and with the termination of the Mandate, the last edition ceased to
be available. Hence, public opinion remained largely ignorant of the facts,
thereby giving a semblance of authenticity to the extreme form of Zionist
propaganda allegations that Palestine was a Jewish country and that the Arab
inhabitants constituted an insignificant minority of nomads who roamed the
countryside.
The reproduction of this official material, despite its inaccuracies, should
help to set the record straight and ensure that the Arab personality of Pales-
tine is not lost upon serious researchers. Its availability will also serve three
other objectives:
(1) Enable world opinion to realize the magnitude of the material losses
of the Palestine Arabs in land alone;
(2) Rebut Zionist claims that the lands of Palestine were owned by the
Jews through purchase;
(3) Dispel the unwarranted accusations which have been circulating
since 1948 that the Palestine Arabs, having sold their lands to the
Jews, must bear responsibility for their present predicament.
(1) For a detailed study of the classification of land and area ownership, see Pales-
tine: Loss of a Heritage, by Sami Hadawi.
(2) As the Official Land Valuer and Inspector of Urban Tax Assessments of the
Palestine Government during the years 1935 to 1948, and the officer who was entrusted
with the task of compiling the figures on classification of land and area ownership,
this writer feels competent to comment on the accuracy of the contents of the ‘Village
Statistics 1945.’

هو جزء من

Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine

تاريخ

سبتمبر ١٩٧٠

المنشئ

Hadawi, Sami

هداوي، سامي

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

PLO Research Center: Facts and Figures