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The Land Question in Palestine, 1917-1939

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That is the best work I read so far on this topic. Prof. Stein took time to investigate all evidences in regard to land purchases in the 1917-39 time period (British Mandate) in Palestine, without getting into general assumptions and cliches. One of his conclusions, is that rich Arab landowners collaborated with the Zionist buyers while disregarding the poor Muslim "falaheen" who worked the land.

The central theme here is Arab land sales to Jews. The central contention is that the British didnt do enough to regulate such sales, the Arabs were poor and duplicitous and the Jews used their lobby to get around the laws. But this book doesnt dare to ask some more probing questions. It doesnt bother to ask why there should have been land laws in the first place that forbid Jews from buying land. Such laws in England or a law in the United States barring, say Mexicans, from acquireing land would be racist, but somehow if it is in Palestine regulated by the English that is acceptable.

Then there is the question of how poor the Arabs really were. The leading Arab families were typical aristocrats, bourgouise, who owned all the land and had serfs(Fellahin) working for them. Many of these Arabs lived abroad in Lebanon and Syria(such as the Sursoks). They were fabulously wealthy and they over-charged Jews for fallow land, that Jews then turned into productive land. They were not poor or particularly fragmented, they simply got more money than their land was worth.

Since British racist policies failed in Palestine and rich aristocratic Arabs sold their land, it was left to the Arab nationalists in Jerusalem and Haifa to 'defend' Arab land from the immigrant Jews. But even these wealthy men, such as Hajj Amin al Husayni and the Christian Arabs of Haifa were unscucessful and many sold land anyway to Jews while murdering those Arabs accused of doing the very same thing.

Lastly the book doesnt discuss the role of the Greek-Orthodox Church which had exteinsive dealings with the Zionists and sold much land. To credit the all encompassing 'Zionist Lobby' for mysteriously getting around British laws, which were themselves racist, is both anti-semitic and reminds one of the Protocols.

Therefore this book has many problems, it doesn't understand the scope of the problem, it paints all Jews as part of a larger conspiracy to take away land from 'poor' Arabs, when in fact it was the Jews who were refugees buying from wealthy Arabs and being prevented from doing so by european racists. Lastly it doesnt question the logic of the laws or the role of the church.

Seth J. Frantzman