Jewish land purchase in Palestine

In the 1880s, Jews, predominantly Ashkenazi,[2][3] began purchasing land and properties across Ottoman Palestine in order to expand the collective territorial ownership of the Yishuv.

[6] This cycle of land acquisition ultimately ended when the Israeli Declaration of Independence yielded the founding of the Jewish state on 14 May 1948.

Most land purchases between the late 1880s and the 1930s were located in the coastal plain area, including "Acre to the North and Rehovoth to the South, the Esdraelon (Jezreel) and Jordan Valleys and to the lesser extent in Galilee".

[17] According to Palestinian-American anthropologist Nasser Abufarha, "In 1858 the Ottoman Authority introduced the law of tabu to fix rights of ownership of the land.

The soil, covered in a layer of sand, made it impossible to grow the staple crop of Palestine, corn.

[17] As a result, this area remained uncultivated and underpopulated,[8] enabling the Jews to purchase land without a massive displacement and eviction of Arab tenants.

The table below shows the land ownership of Palestine by large Jewish Corporations (in square kilometres) on 31 December 1945.

The Commission point to serious difficulties in connection with the legislation proposed by the Palestine Government for the protection of small owners.

The Palestine Order in Council and, if necessary, the Mandate should be amended to permit of legislation empowering the High Commissioner to prohibit the transfer of land in any stated area to Jews, so that the obligation to safeguard the right and position of the Arabs may be carried out.

Until survey and settlement are complete, the Commission would welcome the prohibition of the sale of isolated and comparatively small plots of land to Jews.

At present, and for many years to come, the Mandatory Power should not attempt to facilitate the close settlement of the Jews in the hill districts generally.

A decrease in the world market demand for citrus or a lack of means of transportation severely jeopardized the economic situation of these people".

Palestine(1945) Land ownership by sub-district Map published in 1945 by UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question [ 1 ]
Map showing Jewish-owned land as of 31 December 1944, including land owned in full, shared in undivided land and State Lands under concession. This constituted 6% of the total land area, of which more than half was held by the JNF and PICA [ 7 ]
KKL collection boxes to fund land purchases in Palestine were distributed among Jews from 1904 onwards
Jewish rabbis receiving the title deed for lands that they purchased from the Arab landowner in Mandatory Palestine , 1920s
Arab anti-Zionist protests at the Damascus Gate , 8 March 1920