The Proletarianization of Palestinians in Israel (ص 187)

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The Proletarianization of Palestinians in Israel (ص 187)

المحتوى

187
tarian class./4 Arab employment by British productive capital reached its
peak during World War II, when the British colonial authorities for the first
time invested in Arab industry and agriculture.
In an article titled, "Wartime Development of the Arab Economy in Pales-
tine," Z. Abramovitz writes:
"During World War II, the increased economic activity in Pales-
tine brought about by British demands for food and military sup-
plies and British investments in buildings, roads and fortifica-
tions attracted substantial numbers from rural areas into the
much increased Arab labor force. The number of wage-earners
employed by the British increased from 15,578 in January, 1939,
to 76,548 in December, 1942....Thousands of workers who were
hitherto employed on their own land in their village were trans-
formed into wage-earners working for the Government. Thousands
of them were trained as skilled workers." 75
This is to say, the size of Palestinian wage labor force employed by
British capital in 1942 was equivalent to the size of Palestinian wage labor
force penetrating the Israeli-Jewish economy from occupied Gaza and West
Bank in 1972. The growth in British demand for Arab labor was, however, only
temporary. The fluctuation in the demand for Palestinian-Arab labor during
the Yishuv is absolutely phenomenal: 5,000 in 1925, compared to 11,000 in
1929; 33,000 in 1935; 3,029 in 1936; 15,578 in 1939; and 76,548 in 1942.
These fluctuations in the employment of Palestinian labor suggest that
it may not be accurate simply to attribute the non-configuration of a Pales-
tinian proletariat as a significant social force with a distinct class inter-
est during the Yishuv to Zionist labor policy alone, as the 1942 figures
point to a deeper explanation: the state of development and requirements
of the Palestinian forces and relations of production. If the absorptive
capacity of the productive forces at the disposal of the Jewish Yishuv
were to exceed the requirements of Aliyah absorption, the boycott of Arab
labor slogan could never have been applied. In fact, we notice the develop-

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The Proletarianization of Palestinians in Israel

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المنشئ

Najwa Hanna Makhoul

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