Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 182)
غرض
- عنوان
- Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 182)
- المحتوى
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definition of the concept “cultivable land". Cultivable land was
defined as "land which can be brought under cultivation by the
application of wage labour and financial resources of the average
individual Palestinian cultivator". (6) In other words, the measure
employed was not based on the fallah, who in principle had no capital
and could not employ wage labour on the land, but rather ona land
owner who could bring in capital and use wage labour. The "guesswork"
of the Commissioner of Land was, therefore, not based on what
actually p_evailed, but rather, was calculated on the basis of the
potential settler who would immigrate as a labourer or as a
capitalist.
The first survey of Palestine directed by the Director of Survey,
John Hope Simpson, based its data on both aerial and field research.
The area surveyed covered over 75% of the total land of Palestine,
excluding Beersheba. In various cases detailed suzveys of individual
villages, such as that of Bir-Zeit were also provided.
Notwithstanding this, the Director of Survey has been criticised
by the Jewish Agency which claims that the aerial survey tends to
underestimate the size of agricultural tand. However, the reality is
that what in fact angered the Jewish Agency was not the inaccuracy of
this particular information but rather the whole of the report which
was published after three months of survey.
In a confidential letter by the Director of Survey, Simpson, to the
Colonial Officer Chuckburg, the Jewish Agency, it was reported, has
rejected all the findings of the Director of Survey. Simpson was
accused of being hostile to the Zionist presence in Palestine, his
conclusions were deemed unjust and he was labled as biased and anti-
Zionist. (7)
168
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. - تاريخ
- ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- Nahla Abdo-Zubi
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