From the Pages of the Defter (ص 43)

غرض

عنوان

From the Pages of the Defter (ص 43)

المحتوى

Secondly, this study also argues that the villagers had considerable freedom to
choose how they registered their lands with the tax commission. Chapter 3 explores these
various types of ownerships and their meaning in the reform era — individual private
ownership, partnerships, village-wide community ownership, and musha. Thirdly, this study
further argues that one generation after the implementation of reform, the new language of
tenure was well-integrated into the vocabulary and society of rural Hebron. Finally, this
study argues that evidence shows that throughout the reform as well as the post-reform
years the Ottomans permitted various channels in addition to the tapu certificate to prove
ownership of property. The implication of this, | argue, is that the accepted methodology of
studying land-tenure in Ottoman Palestine must be broadened beyond its current narrow
focus. Along the way, this study also aspires to add qualitatively to Ottoman and Palestinian
rural studies by examining Ottoman village society in the Hebron region from the bottom-up.
Significance of this Study
The importance of this study is threefold. First, it uses a rare source to bring needed
empirical evidence to the table of scholarly discussion on the implementation of Ottoman-
era land-tenure reform in Palestine. This study examines more than isolated cases; it looks at
an entire district, as well as its parts.
Secondly, it opens a new avenue to the study of land tenure. Scholarly literature has
been overly concerned with tapu. As Haim Gerber observed when he studied land cases that
came before the Jerusalem district administrative council (meclis-i idare) in the first decade
26

هو جزء من

From the Pages of the Defter

تاريخ

٢٠١٦

المنشئ

Susynne McElrone

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

Theses رسائل ماجستير ودكتوراه