The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 96)

غرض

عنوان
The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 96)
المحتوى
80
estates and, in some cases, as a result of the peasants’ failure to pay debts.”
Some estates were formed in the plains on previously uncultivated lands as security
improved and the government encouraged agricultural expansion.*° Then there
was the well-known situation of Palestinian peasants, fearing conscription and
increased tax collection, they either did not register their land or did so in the
name of some influential or wealthy individual. Initially, this did not result in a
loss of access to land by the peasants in most cases, and they continued to cultivate
it using the mushaa system. It was only later on, when the demand for land by
wealthy families, but also mainly by European settlers increased, and land became
a sought-after market commodity, that peasants found out that they had no legal
rights to land when the land was sold.
Although the rise of large-landed estates may have resulted in loss of access
to land by some peasants, it is extremely difficult, as Owen points out, to assess its
extent.?” This is more so given the fact that the extension of agricultural
production in the plains did not only include large estates but also individual
cultivators and whole villages that took advantage of the new conditions. In a
related vein, Scholch points out that the mushaa system actually expanded as a
result of this agricultural movement into the coastal and plains areas.** This may
*Warriner, “Land Tenure,” 73.
26Owen, Middle East, 267.
27Tbhid.
*8Scholch, 111.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
تاريخ
٢٠٠٦
المنشئ
Riyad Mousa

Contribute

A template with fields is required to edit this resource. Ask the administrator for more information.

Not viewed