Land In Palestine After The Ottoman Land Reforms of 1865-1871 - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum

picaro · #1 (**permalink**) 10-13-2009

One of the best short articles dealing with the myths of Zionist displacement of Arabs in Palestine.

Quote:

The claim that the Arabs were being driven out was raised as early as the 1930s. This claim was investigated by the British, and rejected almost completely - and this at a time when British policy in Palestine was clearly moving from a pro-Zionist to a pro-Arab position.
Two official British documents from the year 1937 deal with this claim. One is the report of the Peel Commission (Chapter 9, Par. 61), which relates that during the years 1920-1939, 688 Arab tenant farmers were removed from their land as a result of purchases made by the Jews. Five hundred twenty-six of the Arab farmers remained in some agricultural occupation, and four hundred received alternative plots of land in other locations.

The second document is one of a series of memoranda prepared by the mandatory government and published in London (Colonial No. 133, p. 37). It contains the findings of the 1931 investigation of Lewis French, which totally refute the claim that the Zionist undertaking in Palestine caused the creation of "an entire landless people among the Palestinian Arabs".
The memorandum notes that the total number of applications of registration as landless Arabs reached 3,27 1. Of these, the claims of 2,607 were rejected as not belonging to this category, and only 664 heads of families were recognized as having legitimate claims. Approximately half this number - 347 - agreed to accept the government's offer of resettlement. The rest refused, either because they had found employment elsewhere, or because they were unaccustomed to the agricultural methods, such as irrigation, employed in the new locations, or because of other reasons. In his investigation of the hill country, where the Jewish purchases were minimal, French found that out of seventy-one Arab claims of eviction, sixty-eight were rejected (The Esco Foundation for Palestine, Inc., Vol. II, p. 716).

Land Ownership in Palestine : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

A very well researched article.

The Moshe Auman article here:

Middle East Reader

htperr6565 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-13-2009

well, that settles that! just bring this note to the next israeli palestinian summit.

EagleTed · #3 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by htperr6565

well, that settles that! just bring this note to the next israeli palestinian summit.

With the expectation that it will be received as well as you received it?

Sulayman · #4 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Thanks for providing me with a great read. I had heard before that most of Palestine was depopulated and under developed under Ottoman rule. I assumed this was due to the incompetance of the Ottoman governments but I didn't know the role the Beduoin tribes played. It seems cleart that to the extent that there is cultivation of any sort in Israel and Palestine we can credit the early Jews for it.

htperr6565 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sulayman

Thanks for providing me with a great read. I had heard before that most of Palestine was depopulated and under developed under Ottoman rule. I assumed this was due to the incompetance of the Ottoman governments but I didn't know the role the Beduoin tribes played. It seems cleart that to the extent that there is cultivation of any sort in Israel and Palestine we can credit the early Jews for it.

yep, if the jewish scholars tell you so....

Donkey_Left · #6 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Way to tell half (if that) of the story.

Sulayman · #7 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Mark Twain was a Jewish scholar?

Sulayman · #8 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

The truth is Palestine was basically depopulated by Ottoman incompetance and Beduoin terrorism. When a small number of Jewish pioneers came into Palestine in the 19th century the place started to be reclaimed. It was the work of these Jewish pioneers that made Palestine attractive to numbers of outside Arabs who had not lived in the area before.

Donkey_Left · #9 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sulayman

The truth is Palestine was basically depopulated by Ottoman incompetance and Beduoin terrorism. When a small number of Jewish pioneers came into Palestine in the 19th century the place started to be reclaimed. It was the work of these Jewish pioneers that made Palestine attractive to numbers of outside Arabs who had not lived in the area before.

It honestly boggles my mind that this sort of myth is perpetuated.

Sulayman · #10 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

It honestly boggles my mind that a guy who call himself a student refuses to inform himself with facts.

Read it for yourself.

Land Ownership in Palestine : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

Donkey_Left · #11 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sulayman

It honestly boggles my mind that a guy who call himself a student refuses to inform himself with facts.

Read it for yourself.

Land Ownership in Palestine : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

I'm well aware that a lot of the land that Jews bought in Palestine belonged to absentee land owners, and in that sense, the Jews paid for the land that they occupied.

That doesn't change the fact that the "article" that you posted is full of interpretations that don't bear out what really has occurred in the last century or so in Palestine/Israel.

Sulayman · #12 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

That doesn't change the fact that the "article" that you posted is full of interpretations that don't bear out what really has occurred in the last century or so in Palestine/Israel.

This is a monsterous generalization that would get you an F in class.

We have agreed that the Jews didn't "steal" the land.

Furthermore facts indicate that the land was almost empty of people when the first Zionist arrived due to Arab banditry and was a desolate wilderness.

You seem to think the article is in error. Make your case.

Donkey_Left · #13 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009

I'm not really interested in your patronizing inanity. It's funny that you mention grades in classes, as before I graduated I took a history class specifically on the Arab Israeli conflicts.

I don't have a dog in this fight: you seem to be only interested in legitimizing zionism, so I'm not really interested in furthering this discussion with you.

But feel free to continue your rants.