Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 21)
غرض
- عنوان
- Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 21)
- المحتوى
-
The Land and Its Ownership
the tax at the time of the original distribution but this was not done.
No harm was, however, seen by this departmental action at the
time since land settlement of title operations when they reached the
village would adjust the ownership situation to agree with the actual
position.
The main defect in the ‘Village Statistics’ lies in the classification of
land for tax purposes which in turn affected the extent of Arab ownership.
No problem arose in respect of Jewish-owned lands because all Jewish pur-
chases had been properly surveyed and registered. Existing defects may be
explained as follows.
Classification of Land
To understand the extent of the defect, it is necessary to review the tax
laws which were applicable to agricultural land in Palestine during the period
of the Mandate, Property in urban areas presented no appreciable difficulties
insofar as areas and ownership were concerned.
The taxation system applied to agricultural land inherited by the British
Mandatory from the Turks was based on the #the, a tax which was supposed
to be equal to one-tenth of the produce. The collection of the tithe used to
be farmed out by public auction, usually to influential persons, and assess-
ment of the produce was made by assessors at the time of harvest. This prac-
tice, being open to abuse, was discontinued after the British occupation.
In 1928, the Palestine Government replaced this system by a commuta-
tion of tithes, that is, a fixed aggregate amount paid annually irrespective of
what the produce of a farmer was. The tax was, however, related to the
average amount of tithe that had been paid by the village during the years
immediately preceding the application of the Commutation of Tithes Or-
dinance to it, and was distributed by village committees under official super-
vision on the basis of the productivity of the land in cereals or fruit trees. The
extent of the areas cultivated were not taken into account.
In 1935, the taxation system was once again changed by the enactment
of the Rural Property Tax Ordinance’ which remained in force in Palestine
(except in the Beersheba sub-district where the Commutation of Tithes applied)
until the termination of the Mandate, and on which the figures in the ‘Village
Statistics’ were based.
For the operation of this Ordinance, plans were prepared showing the
boundaries of all villages and settlements, the boundaries and names of the
various localities or blocks, the area planted with fruit trees and the cultivable
and non-cultivable land. Villages and settlements were divided by official
valuers into blocks of land of a roughly similar ground crop productivity
value, and the category was determined in which each block should be placed.
The following categories* were decided upon:
(7) Latest revised law was published in the Laws of Palestine 1944, Vol. I, p. 32;
and Ordinance No. 8 of 1945, Supplement No. 1, p. 47.
(8) A Survey of Palestine 1945-1946, Vol. I, pp. 251-252.
21 - تاريخ
- سبتمبر ١٩٧٠
- المنشئ
- Hadawi, Sami
- هداوي، سامي
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