Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 212)

غرض

عنوان
Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 212)
المحتوى
unmanufactured imports from duties. The imported flour (Table 11)
entered Palestine duty free, from Syria, France's’ colony, in
accordance with the "Palestine-Syria Custom Agreement" of 1929
(Brown,1937:130). The wheat which came partly from TransJordan and
partly from Europe was also exempted in accordance with the "Tax
Exemption Ordinance" of 1929 (Brown,1937: pp.129-30).
In fact, the role of the colonial state in facilitating the
importation of duty free wheat and other commodities was more
important than any other factor. This reality did not escape British
administrators at the time. In a memorandum to the Executive Council
of Palestine {the Zionist official body recognized by the
administration), the High Commissioner, blamed the administration's
“protective tariffs" for the dumping of foreign wheat. (45)
Notwithstanding, the economic advantages were not the sole, or even
the decisive factor for the Jewish capitalist class' decision to
import wheat and flour. The Zionist policy of boycotting indigenous
Palestinian products was simply also extended to this crop.
Wheat production in Palestine, which occupied 40 per cent of all
land under cereal cultivation and 30 per cent of the total area of
Palestine's land devoted to all forms of cultivation and plantations,
was able to support the urban population (Stein,1984:143; Brown,1937:
128). In 1921, 72,885 tons of wheat were produced; 86,457 tons in
1923; 92,190 tons in 1924; 101,079 tons in 1925 respectively. (4%)
Wheat production in 1930 was estimated at 115,000 tons.(47) Two
thirds of this produce was used by the fallaheen and one third was
sold to the local urban markets.
Flooding the urban markets with imported wheat while locally
198
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تاريخ
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المنشئ
Nahla Abdo-Zubi

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