Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 24)
غرض
- عنوان
- Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 24)
- المحتوى
-
24.
Village Statistics 1945
cultivation. That this was an erroneous appraisal is proved by the very fact
that many new stretches of land have since been brought under tillage. With
the extension of the cultivated area, the area of the cultivable lands has also
been enlarged. The total area of cultivated land has been extended year by
year, and thus considerably enlarged in the course of time.” ‘While this was
true, the tax records carried the same figures of ‘cultivable’ land as originally
classified. Mr. Granovsky then quoted as an example the figures for 1930-
1931 which, he said, showed that ‘the whole area under cultivation was
3,866,189 dunums, while by 1934-1935 it has been extended to 4,529,906;
that is to say, 663,717 dunums, or 17 per cent more of the land was being
worked, ‘These figures,” he explained, “apply only to winter and summer
fruits and to vegetables, while the ‘krab’ areas, that is to say, the lands
which it is customary in Palestine to leave lying fallow every other year,
were not taken into account.’’?°
The contention of the Jewish Agency experts on ‘cultivable’ land was
not lost on those responsible in the Department of Land Settlement for the
classification of land. As Official Valuer this writer more than once drew
attention to the discrepancy and suggested a revision of the survey. It was,
however, pointed out that the expenditure involved would more than outweigh
the expected increase in the incidence of the tax.
While Government was willing to forego its tax, it was not realized
that a day would come which would involve the Arabs in discussion over the
extent of Arab-owned land in Palestine and that the figures in the ‘Village
Statistics’ were compiled from classifications intended for taxation purposes
only, with all the short-comings and under-estimations of these figures.
Ownership of Land
The figure entered under the column of ‘Arabs’ in Table I is 12,766,524
dunums, comprising 48.50 per cent of the total lands of Palestine. This rep-
resents land held in individual ownership (mafruz) and in partnership (a-
sha’). It does not, however, include ‘Communal prof#ts-a-prendre land or land
subject to public easements in common’ (Matruka) or land of the Mewat
(Dead or undeveloped land) categories. Arab rights and interests in these
two categories of land will be discussed in Section IV — State Domain.
As regards Jewish land holdings, Table I shows that these holdings as
on April 1, 1945, amounted to 1,491,699 dunums, comprising 5.67 per cent
of the total land area of Palestine. This does not include state domain land
held by Jewish bodies under concession agreements.
The Survey of Palestine 1945-1946, prepared for the Anglo-American
Committee of Inquiry, stated that “Between the opening of the Land Registries
in October 1920 and 31st December 1945, Jews have purchased and registered
a net area of 938,365 dunums. The assumption that they owned 650,000
(10) Granovsky, A., The Land Issue in Palestine (Jerusalem, 1936), pp. 61-62. - تاريخ
- سبتمبر ١٩٧٠
- المنشئ
- Hadawi, Sami
- هداوي، سامي
Contribute
Not viewed