Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 26)
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- Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine (ص 26)
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26
Village Statistics 1945
Mr. A. Granott, an Israeli land expert, placed “the total area of land
in Jewish possession at the end of June 1947 at 1,850,000 dunums; of this
181,100 dunums had been obtained through concessions from the Palestine
Government ...”"2® Since land granted by Government under concession or
lease appeared in the ‘Village Statistics’ under the column of ‘Public,’ the
net area actually owned by Jews drops to 1,668,900 dunums.
The three estimates given in respect of different dates are very close to
each other, and whether we accept one figure or the other, the fact remains
that Jewish land holdings in Palestine did not exceed 6 per cent of the total
land area on the date of the termination of the Mandate in May 1948.
One point on Jewish land holdings which, however, keeps cropping up
whenever the Palestine problem is discussed is worth explaining: Zionist propa-
ganda claims that the lands of Palestine had been purchased from the people
of Palestine. This claim has been accepted even in some Arab quarters; and
critics accuse the Palestinian Arabs of failing to protect themselves against the
Zionist invasion which brought about the present crisis in the Middle East.
The comments and figures stated below, while inconclusive, should refute
any such accusations. Mr. Granott exonerates the Palestinian farmer by pro-
viding evidence that the majority of land acquisitions by the Jews had been
made from absentee land-owners.
Commenting on ‘the distribution of the land from the point of view of
its ownership before it passed into the hands of the Jews,’ Granott states:
“The Jews acquired their land principally from large and medium Arab land-
owners; the area which was bought from small proprietors was not extensive.”
He went on to say that “‘although there are no figures covering the whole
of the land acquisition, there are more or less precise data on the majority of
the lands which in the various periods passed into the hands of the Jews, The
figures,”’he said, “‘relate to acquisitions which were made by the big companies
and associations — P.I.C.A., the Palestine Land Development Company, and
the Jewish National Fund.” He then listed Jewish acquisitions up to the
year 1936 and pointed out that the figures embrace ‘only about half (55.4
per cent) of all the areas which were acquired by Jews.’
According to Mr. Granott’s tabulation, acquisition of land by the three
Jewish companies by the end of 1936 stood as follows:
Dunums Percentage
Acquired from large absentee landowners 358,974 52.6
Acquired from large resident landowners 167,802 24.6
Acquired from Government, Churches and 91,001 13.4
foreign companies
Acquired from fellaheen (farmers) 64,201 9.4
681,978
(13) Granott, A., The Land System in Palestine (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode,
1952), p. 278.
(14) Ibid., pp. 275-277. - تاريخ
- سبتمبر ١٩٧٠
- المنشئ
- Hadawi, Sami
- هداوي، سامي
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