Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 118)
غرض
- عنوان
- Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 118)
- المحتوى
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of the big absentee landlords, such as the Sursuk family. In this
case, the whole socio-economic status of the direct cultivators was
changed.
The presence of new owners/controllers over the land had paved the
way for the expropriation and landlessness of the peasants. Forced to
carry the brunt of the Ottoman fiscal crisis, the direct producers
were increasingly unable to (reproduce) provide for themselves’ and
their families without resorting to the usurers for loans.
Furthermore, failure to pay back their loans in cash or in kind placed
the direct producers ina yet more difficult situation. It left them
no alternative but to mortgage, and inevitably eventually lose, their
only means of production, their land (1).
The economic conditions of the Palestinian direct producers
worsened further during the war years of 1914-18 due to a number of
factors including conscription, cattle confiscation and deforestation
(Stein, 1984:9). Nevertheless, the actual transformation process in
which mass-scale expropriation took place occured during British rule
and in particular in the first decade, from 1920-30.
British Rule Over Palestine
Immediately after the first world war, Britain affirmed its
military rule over Palestine. The division of the former Turkish
colonies between France and Britain, the most powerful imperialist
countries, was signed in the Anglo-French Declaration of 7 November
1918. In this treaty both governments pledged the “complete and
definite emancipation of the peoples so long oppressed by the Turks"
and vowed to help the indigenous peoples to establish governments
based upon self-determination and independence (Stein, 1984: 35). In
104
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. - تاريخ
- ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- Nahla Abdo-Zubi
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