Population of Palestine - 1870 Approximately 382,000 85% Muslim 11% Christian 4% Jewish (primarily in Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron, and Tiberias) (Not including estimated 20-30,000 Bedouin) 30% in over 10 towns and cities and 70% in smaller rural agricultural villages (approximately 690, vast majority less than 500 people). Traditional patriarchal society controlled by notables, tribal chiefs, clan heads, and dominant families.

19th Century Palestinian Agric. Economy Major crop in rural agricultural villages was rain-fed cereals (mostly wheat). Also, oranges and olives. Expansion of agricultural cultivation and rural settlement spread. Influence of expanding world capitalist economy, increasing exports (doubling of exports from Palestine during the two decades preceding 1882). Peasant agricultural, not subsistence

Jewish Land Purchases in the Late Ottoman Empire

Arthur Ruppin

Baron Edmond James de Rothschild

Yehoshua Hankin

Jewish Organizations active in Land Purchase in Late Ottoman Palestine Private settler groups Rishon lTziyon (1882); Rosh Pina (1882); Zikhron Yaakov (1882); Petah Tikva (1883). Hovavei Tziyon 1884, Kattowitz. The Rothschild Administration 1883-1900. JCA Beirut office opened in 1900. Geula Established by Hovavei Tziyon at the turn of the century. JNF (KKL Keren Kayemet lIsrael) WZO (est. 1897) establishes the JNF in 1901; works in conjunction with the Anglo-Palestine Bank between 1903 and 1905; incorporated as a British company in 1907. The Palestine Office of the WZO established in 1907, base for all JNF and PLDC purchases.--- Zionist ideology was common force motivating all groups. ---

Circumventing the Legal ObstaclesThe Prohibitions from Istanbul Consular intervention. Registering transactions under a borrowed name (Ottoman or foreign, depending on the situation). Inducing Ottoman officials to cooperate (bribery and otherwise). Internal land registries.Art. 68 The Mahlul Clause Regulating land purchase according to cultivation potential and capabilities. The Umm-Juni (Deganya) solution.

Conflicts between Felahin and Jewish Settlers in Late Ottoman Palestine Petah Tikva (1886) Gadera (skirmishes for years following 1892) Rehovot Nes Tziyona Metulla (1897-1902) Hadera J.C.A. purchase in the lower Galilee (1901-2) Fuleh / Merhavia (1910-1911)

A Hidden Question Why does Epstein focus on land? Why is Jewish land purchase in Palestine problematic? According to Epstein, what should be the Zionist movements approach to the Arabs of Palestine? How does Epstein suggest changing Jewish land purchases? How will this influence Jewish-Arab relations? How will this impact the chances of the Zionist project?

In what way was Epstein ahead of his time, and in what way was he a product of his time?

Political Opposition to Zionist Activities1897 Written protest of an Arab committee established in Jerusalem to consider the issue of land sales to Jews. 1898 Article in Christian newspaper in Cairo warning of Jewish plans to control commerce in Palestine. 1899 Yusuf al-Khalidis letter to Herzl: Zionism is understandable in theory but in practice can be realized only by force. 1902 Article in the Cairo nespaper al-Manar: the Jews seek national sovereignty in Palestine, not merely refuge from persecution. 1905 - Le Reveil de la Nation Arabe, by Najib Azoury. 1908 Vocal opposition in the Palestinian press (after the Young Turks Revolution).

1904-1907 A Period of Change in Zionist Strategy Jewish Autonomy in Eretz Israel, by Arthur Ruppin, Director of the Palestine Office. Diffusion of ethnic colonization strategy from Posen province to Palestine (1886 Prussian law created German Colonization Commission to achieve German majority and ensure German control). In Palestine, from purchasing land to establish settlements to purchasing land to achieve autonomy. This is the strategy that guides the Zionist Movement/Jewish Agency until 1948.

The Fuleh Purchase The first Zionist land purchase in the Jezreel Valley. 1872 The Sorsuk family purchases 230,000 dunams of land in the Jezreel Valley (Marj Ibn `Amer) from the Ottoman government. 1890-91 Negotiations between Jewish land purchasers and the Sorsuks which end due to fresh Ottoman prohibitions and the crumbling of the funding Russian companies. 1910-1911 Negotiations between Hankin (J.C.A.) and Elias Sorsuk (Beirut). Sorsuk sold 9,500 dunams of land from Fuleh and Sulam unbeknownst to the felahin. The felahin refused to vacate the land, and the kaimakam of Nazareth, Shukri al-`Asali refused: a) To register the land in the name of Efraim Krauza (Haifa), correctly arguing that the sale was in fact a Zionist purchase; b) To allow a Jewish force to evict the felahin. Soon after, al-`Asali was elected as a Damascus area deputy to the new Ottoman parliament.

Plain of Esdraelon, Marj Ibn Amer and Emeq Yizreel

The Fuleh PurchaseAgitation in the Ottoman ParliamentSorsuk requests order to allow the sale.

Wali (Beirut)Order to allow the sale.

Sorsuk

Transaction

Nazareth Kaymakam Attempt to Register (Shukri al-`Asali) Encouraged refusal to Ruppin / Hankin vacate land. (Pal. Office)

felahin

Attempt to Evict

Ruppins Legal StrategyAs we have written a number of times, it is our opinion that we must insist on upholding the law with regard to Jewish Ottoman subjects, and we must therefore use all legal measures and not be deterred by attorney fees which are likely to be high. At issue is not Fuleh alone but all the Jewish settlement work, which is in danger if we are at the mercy of every officialN.B. We are in a particularly favorable position on this point because, formally, it is not we who are taking legal action but Mr. Sorsuk, who of course feels that he too has been injured by the authorities illegal interference in his right to transfer his rights to the land.Letter from Ruppin to the J.N.F.s Main Office in Cologne, December 1910.

Al-`Asalis Legal TacticsAl-`Asali justified his refusal to authorize the transaction in the land registry by arguing that it was a Zionist purchase, and was therefore against the policy of the central Ottoman government and imperial edicts.

Reading for ThursdayBunton Chapters 1 and 2 of Colonial Land Policies in Palestine, 1917-1936 (pp.30-101)