Agricultural Development in the West Bank (ص 39)
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- Agricultural Development in the West Bank (ص 39)
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It should be emphasized, however, that tenancy is mich more
important than that indicated by the above mentioned data.
During the course of his interviews with farmers and concerned
officials, the researcher discovered that more than half the
number of holdings under intensive cultivation in Tulkarm, Jenin,
and Jericho districts are cultivated by tenants - mostly on a cash
rent basis. Besides, a certain form of tenancy is very common in
Olive production where omners delegate picking of the crop to
“tenants” against a given share in the yield of fruits - currently
at a round one third of it.
Despite having no law gaerning tenancy, West Bank agriculture
does not suffer from serious inefficiencies as a result of tenure
probleas, in contrast to agriculture in most less developed
countries. Disputes between land owners and tenants are rare,
and in the vast majority of cases the leases are renewed automatically.
In fact, it could be assumed that tenancy has even helped to improve
productivity in areas of intensive agriculture by handing over
scarce land and water resources to professional farmers who have
acquired considerable expertise over recent years.
Disputes among owners, however, are fairly common, mainly due to
conflicts arising between heirs, or ambiguity of titles in areas
Which have not been surveyed by the cadastral office. Disputes
of this sort can be-characterized by such ferocity that they may
even eventually result in bloody feuds! Land ownership, evidently,
is characterized by a profound emotional attachment which almost
over-rides all other sentiments.
Sommuni cations
The West Bank towns are connected by a reasonably good main road
‘system which was laid down during the early days of the British
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Mandate. During the Jordanian rule, very few additions or
improvements were introduced, partly because of serious topographic
difficulties, but mostly as a result of official discrimination in
favour of the East Bank. By June 1967 the West Bank had only
around 500 kilometres of main road (0.09 km per one square
kilometre of land area), and not one road had more than two lanes
(see Map No 5).
But the most striking weakness in the road network lay in rural
areas. Although roads connecting villages with neighbouring
towns were reasonably passable, very few asphalted roads were
constructed between villages and surrounding farm areas. This
resulted in very serious problems in regard to handling of produce,
especially of such perishable products as grapes and tomato.
During Israeli occupation major additions in the road system
were introduced. Many long roads of good quality were opened
in the early days of occupation for the purpose of security, and
later many more were constructed for serving Israeli settlenents.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to lay down on a map all roads
built by Israel, because no adequate information is available.
In spite of their length and good quality, Israeli West Bank
Toads serve very limited purposes for local citizens, and especially
Agricultural prodiction purposes. This is due mainly to their
remote location, and gonetines to restrictions imposed by settler
Rurthermore, the Military Adainistration has displayed a restrictive and
—_
1. A prominent example is the lateral road connecting the Allon
road with the Nablus-Ranallah highway and passing by the
Shillo settlement. All the land used by the settlement and the
road belong to the residents of Sinjel, whose Arab residents
are prevented from making use of the new road except when
ging on foot. - تاريخ
- ١٩٨٢
- المنشئ
- Hisham Masoud Awartani
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