The Peasantry of Late Ottoman Palestine ^*

JAMES REILLY

INTRODUCTION

During the final seven decades of Ottoman rule in Palestine¹ the country underwent significant changes. Urbanization, the growth of commerce with Europe and foreign colonization, phenomena which were interrelated, all left their mark. But alongside these changes there was one major constant from the 1840's till 1914: throughout these years the vast majority of Palestine's people were Muslim Arab peasants living in villages. As late as 1922, when the country had come under British rule and urbanization had already become noticeable, the proportion of rural to urban inhabitants was nearly 2:1²

In the middle years of the nineteenth century most Palestinian villages were located in the hills and mountains that run like a spine through the middle of the country, from the Galilee in the north to Jabal al-Khalil (Hebron) in the south. This was in spite of the fact that Palestine's plains, such as Marj ibn 'Amir (Esdraelon) and the coastal plain, are more fertile than the hills. The hills and mountains had two advantages over the plains, however; they were healthier and safer. On the plains, Bedouin raids were periodic, swift, typically involving the plundering of cultivated farmlands, livestock theft, and the targeting of vulnerable trade or pilgrimage caravans.

* This article has been abstracted from postgraduate research done by the author in the Department of History, American University of Beirut.

1 The word "Palestine," in this article, means those areas which were incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine (1922-1948). In Ottoman times, "Palestine" as such did not have a separate administrative existence.

2 John Ruedy, "Dynamics of Land Alienation," in The Transformation of Palestine, ed. Ibrahim Abu-Lughod (Evanstorn Northwestern University Press, 1971), p. 121.