The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 224)

غرض

عنوان
The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 224)
المحتوى
208
population relative to the area cultivated with wheat and durra increased
substantially. Although figures for the 1920-1924 period are not available, the area
cultivated with wheat and durra was probably not substantially less than later
periods given the average production figure for that period of 104,106 metric tons,
which compared well with the later periods.
However, the increased density of population to the area cultivated with
wheat and durra can be clearly established when comparing the 1931-1934 to the
1940-1944 periods. The annual average Arab population'"' for the periods 1931-
1934 and 1940-1944 were 893,488 and 1,142,514, respectively, a 28 percent
increase. On the other hand, the annual average area cultivated with wheat and
durra “increased” from 2,914,873 to 3,086,087 between the periods 1931-1934
and 1940-1944, respectively, an increase of only 6 percent. However, what seems
like a neo-Malthusian trap, belies a more fundamental dynamic rooted in
government policy, the settler “economy” and the worsening conditions of most of
the Palestinian Arab peasants as this study tries to show.
The output of wheat and durra also depended on the system of rotation, but
more importantly on the annual variation in the amount of rain and its distribution
over the season.'’” For example, in 1931, the area cultivated with wheat was
2,358,103 dunums, which yielded 79,650 metric tons when the average rainfall for
'NThe figures used are the official government estimates of the total population
minus the European Jewish population.
‘2H imadeh, “Natural Resources,” 46.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
تاريخ
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المنشئ
Riyad Mousa

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