Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 98)
غرض
- عنوان
- Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 98)
- المحتوى
-
Socio-Economic Transformaticn in Palestine
In Palestine, the late 19th century marked the beginning of a
process of land concentration and eventual commoditization. Large
tracts of cultivable land were seized by the Ottoman state during
this period. Some of it was Matruka (or Musha'a) land which the 1858
Land Code considered as a separate category, other was Mulk land,
whose owners had failed to acquire new registration papers for their
property. In the early 1880s, the major seqment of Mulk land which was
declared as state property was that owned by the deposed Sultan.
However, Amiri land formed the largest portion of land seized by the
Ottoman state.
The section within the 1856 Land Code requiring the land proprietor
to cultivate it for three consecutive years resulted in the
confiscation of large areas, particularly in the Marj plain. This was
largely due to the fact that the Law ignored natural factors which are
important in agricultural production. For instance, it is common
practice in grain cultivation that the land be left fallow for one
season to allow the soil to regenerate its fertility, normally after 1
or 2 years (al-Murr,1924). Moreover, in low-land areas such as’ the
Marj, rain falls are usually unpredictable and crop failures not
infrequent. Under these circumstances various tracts of land became
vulnerable to state confiscation.
Another method of state land-grabbing was a practice known as
Jiftlik, whereby the Sultan could confiscate any tract o £ cultivable
land and turn it into his own private property. In the late 19th
century, Jiftlik lands were created in almost all parts of the Empire
(Barakat, 1975; Saleh, 1979). In Palestine, Sultan Abdel-Hamid
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. - تاريخ
- ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- Nahla Abdo-Zubi
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