Fellah

A fellah (Arabic: فَلَّاح fallāḥ; feminine فَلَّاحَة fallāḥa; plural fellaheen or fellahin, فلاحين, fallāḥīn) is a local peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa.

With the passage of time, the name took on an ethnic character, and the Arab elites to some extent used the term fellah synonymously with "indigenous Egyptian".

The invasions of the Babylonians, Hyksos, Ethiopians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks, have had no permanent effect either on their physical or mental characteristics.

[13] In the Levant, specifically in Palestine, Jordan and Hauran, the term fellahin was used to refer to the majority native peasantry of the countryside.

[14] The term fallah was also applied to native people from several regions in the North Africa and the Middle East, also including those of Cyprus.