Jewish immigration to Palestine v Palestine Arab population (graph)
Jewish immigration to Palestine v Palestine Arab population (table)
Various names for Palestine (1800s-present)
1. Independent Sanjak of Jerusalem, Sanjak of: Nablus and Acre (Ottoman Palestine /‘Southern Syria’/Bilad el-Sham) (-1918)
2. Occupied Enemy Territory (1918-1920)
3. British controlled Palestine as a result of the San Remo Conference (April 1920-1922)
4. British Mandate Palestine as a result of the League of Nations (1922-15 May 1948)
5. Israel (1948-)
6. West Bank (Jordanian occupied 1948-1967)
7. Gaza (Egyptian occupied 1948-1967)
6. West Bank (Israeli occupied 1967-) (Area A, B, C - Oslo Accords, 1993)
7. Gaza (Israeli occupied 1967-)
(Compiled by Stewart Mills, 15/7/13)
Palestine and the administrative regions of the Ottoman empire
The Ottoman Empire was divided into vilayets, (provinces). These were also called beyliks [beylerbeyilik] eyalets or pashaluks. The governor of a vilâyet was called beylerbeyi or vadi. At the height of its empire there were 29 vilayets. One of those was Syria. Vilayet (1864-1918) The Vilayets were introduced with the promulgation of the "Vilayet Law" (Turkish: Teskil-i Vilayet Nizamnamesi)in 1864, as part of the administrative reforms that were being enacted throughout the empire.Unlike the previous eyalet system, the 1864 law established a hierarchy of administrative units: the vilayet, liva/sanjak, kaza and village council, to which the 1871 Vilayet Law added the nabiye. The 1864 law also specified the responsibilities of the governor (wali) of the vilayet and their councils. At the same time, the law left to the governors vast scope for independent action as well as responsibility, as part of a system intended to achieve a large degree of efficiency in ruling the provinces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassal_and_tributary_states_of_the_Ottoman_Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ottoman_Empire_territories
Currency of Palestine
The money of Syria consists of piastres (Ar kirsh) at 40 paras (ar. fadda or masriyeh) each. English and French (and Russian) gold passes everywhere. Egyptian money is refused everywhere. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-b-029-800.html
Extracts from the Peel Commission Report 1937
The total area of Palestine is approximately 10,400 square miles or 27,009,000 dunums (Peel Commission Report p. 234.)
The difference between Oriental Jews and Zionists
“If the Jews had come to Palestine willing to fuse their life and culture with Arab life and culture, to accept the language of the majority, to contemplate the possibility of being some day ruled by that majority, then it is conceivable that they might have been as welcome and successful in Palestine as their ancestors in ‘Iraq or Egypt or Spain in the early days of the Diaspora. But it would have been wholly unreasonable to expect such an attitude on their part. It would have been the direct negation of Zionism, both on its social or political and on its cultural side.
The Zionists came back to Palestine, on the one hand, to escape from an alien environment, to shake off the shadow of the ghetto, to free themselves from all the drawbacks of ” minority life “. On the other hand, they came back inspired with the faith that the Jewish genius, restored to its old home, could do things comparable with the things it had done in ancient days, Necessarily, therefore, the Hebrew language had to be the language of the National Home: necessarily Jewish nationalism was intensified by its foundation.
Enlightened immigrants might take a highly sympathetic interest in Arab life and culture: but there could be no question of a Jewish fusion or ” assimilation ” with it, still less of a subordination.. The National Home could not be half-national. Nor, it need hardly be said, was the idea of the Arabs acquiescing on their side in a fusion of Arab with Jewish culture more imaginable, To quote the Arab delegates of 1922 again ‘Nature does not allow the creation of a spirit of co-operation between two peoples so different ’.* (Peel Commission p. 62)”
Maps of Palestine in c.1898
Map of Jerusalem
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-084b-800.html
Jewish colonies Jerusalem 1:25,000 Jerusalem
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-084b-800.html
Jerusalem map
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-110b-
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-110b-
Jerusalem – immediate surrounding area – Kefr Silwan, Abu Dis http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-110b-2000.html
Jerusalem, Bet Jala, Bethlehem
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/travel/593773/593773-c-110b-2000.html
Illegal immigration - What was the level of illegal immigration of Muslims, Christians and Jews to Palestine in the period 1920-1945?
The Peel Report whilst noting illegal immigration of Arabs from Palestine as occurring it does not priorities this as an issue of national significance. In contrast the issue of illegal immigration of Jews was made an issue of concern. Chapter X – Immigration pp 279- 2. Illegal Immigration pp. 289-292
Arab illegal immigration
“43…In a good year the amount of Illegal Immigration into Palestine [from Hauran] is negligible and confined to the younger members of large families whose presence is not required in the fields. Most persons in this category probably remain permanently in Palestine, wages there ‘being considerably higher than in Syria. According to an authoritative estimate as many as ten or eleven thousand Hauranis may go to Palestine temporarily in search of work in a really bad year. The Deputy Inspector-General of the Criminal Investigation Department has recently estimated that the number of Hauranis illegally in the country at the present time is roughly 2,500.”
…45, The dimensions ‘of the volume, of illegal immigration from neighbouring territories are not known. There is evidence that many of these illegal immigrants have land in the neighbouring territories and leave their wives and families in those territories while seeking to augment their livelihood by labour in Palestine. There is evidence also that this form of illegal immigration is seasonal. It is probable that seasonal immigration leaves a residue in Palestine of people who have decided to settle permanently in the country. There is no evidence available to show that this residue is so considerable as seriously to disturb the general economy of Palestine.”
Jewish illegal immigration
“33. Jewish illegal immigration has been going on side by side with authorized immigration …
34…The volume of illegal immigration appears to have reached its peak in 1933, and It was estimated that, in the two years 1932-3, the number of anauthorized settlers had risen to 22,400. Of this figure, 17,900 were travellers who remained in the country beyond tile authorized limit. 35. The third form 37 It man be mentioned that the ratio of recorded Jewish divorces to, recorded Jewish marriages is 40 per cent., and we are of opinion that a substantial part of this abnormal divorce rate is due to the marriages and divorces which enable foreign women to enter Palestine or remain in the country when, otherwise they would either be disqualified from entering or not qualified for admission as immigrants.” (Peel Commission p. 289-290).
Arabs to take burden of Jews from Europe
“4. …Arabs throughout their history have not only been free from anti-Jewish sentiment but have also shown that the spirit ‘of compromise is, deeply rooted in their life. And he went on to express his sympathy with the fate of the Jews in Europe. ” There is no decent-minded person,” he said, ” who would not want to do everything humanly possible to relieve the distress‘ of those persons,” provided that it was “ not at the cost of inflicting a corresponding distress on another people.” Considering what the possibility of finding a refuge in Palestine. means to many thousands of suffering Jews, we cannot believe that the ” distress ” occasioned by Partition, great as it would be, is more than Arab generosity can bear. And in this, as in so much else connected with Palestine, it is not only the peoples of that country that have to be considered. The Jewish Problem is not the least of the many problems which are disturbing international relations at this critical time and obstructing the path to peace and prosperity. If the Arabs at some sacrifice could help to solve that problem, they would earn the gratitude not of the Jews alone but of all the Western World.”
Transjordan
In the Peel Commission the question was raised about immigration of Jews to Trans-Jordan. However, this was essentially ruled out whilst ever there was conflict in Palestine. “2. The area of Trans-Jordan is about 34,000 square miles, and its present population is estimated at about 320,000. Thus while the country is almost two and a half times as big as Palestine it contains only about a quarter of its population, That population, moreover, includes a large number of Bedouin, whose pastoral life requires more land than would be needed if in course of time they were to settle down to agriculture. “7. …as long as Jews and Arabs quarrel in Palestine they are unlikely to agree elsewhere; and in Trans-Jordan as in other independent Arab States the door will only be opened to Jewish enterprise in so far as friendlier relations are established in Palestine.”
Zionism the Jewish Agency and Jewish colonization in Palestine
“72. The expenditure of the Jewish Agency for colonizing and other activities in Palestine is covered by the proceeds of the Palestine Foundation Fund, the control of which was in 1929 transferred by the Zionist Organisation to the enlarged Jewish Agency. The annual expenditure from that Fund in 1935-6 was ;₤330,000. The total expenditure for 1921-36 was ₤ 6,215,000 including ₤1,900,000 for agricultural colonisation, ₤478,000 for urban colonization, ₤487,000 for education, ₤817,000 for immigration and ₤523,000 for public works, etc. 73, The Jewish Agency occupies an imposing building in Jerusalem. Is divided into a variety ,of Departments such as the Political, Colonization, Immigration, Education, Treasury, Economic and Trade and Industry Departments, as well as a Department for the Settlement of German Jews. … 76. The principal aim of the Jewish Agency has been and is to secure the admission into Palestine of as many Jews as the country can absorb from an economic point of view. Realizing that the settlement of Jews on the land is a comparatively slow and limited process, the Zionist leaders embarked on a policy of industrial and town development, which seemed to offer possibilities for the absorption of large numbers of Jews. (Peel Commission p. 173)
Population of Palestine Population during the Ottoman times
Primary sources for understanding Palestine: Baedeker’s Palestine and Syria 3rd ed 1898
K Baedeker (ed), Palestine and Syria” Handbook for Travellers 3rd edition, Leipsic, Karl Baedeker publisher, 1898
The writer of the book is Dr Albert Socin Professor of Oriental Languages at Leipsic with the assistance of Dr Immanuel Benzinger
Newt
Gingrich’s ‘invented’ people –
images of Palestine prior to British occupation
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2147rank.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/partition_plan.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/mandate2.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/partition_plan.html
http://www.metric-conversions.org/area/square-miles-to-square-kilometers.htm
http://www.kylesconverter.com/area/dunams-to-square-kilometres
http://uk.icahd.org/articles.asp?menu=6&submenu=2&site=J&article=38
