Rounding off the week
Webbery: Nayha Kalia writes on Sri Lanka's killing fields, Edmund Standing argues that the war on multiculturalism needs to be fought, Jim Denham takes on Gaddafi's foreign legion, George Monbiot names the genocide deniers, Ben Cohen reflects on the Yale antisemitism issue, Rosie deconstructs the Staggers' idiocy about the Gay Girl blog, while Marko blames the whole blogosphere, and Stuart surveys the week on the democratic left web. Three book reviews by Max Dunbar: of Owen Hatherley's Uncommon, of Owen Jones' Chavs and of Hitch-22.
History:
History:
75 Years In The Forward: British Colonial Minister William Ormsby-Gore reported in the British Parliament that the Arab population of Palestine has increased, mainly as a result of the increase of the Jewish population. Ormsby-Gore reported that since 1922, more than 250,000 Arabs have immigrated to Palestine. They have moved there to avail themselves of the economic opportunities that have been created as a result of the arrival of large numbers of Jews, who have settled mainly in the areas of Jaffa, Haifa and Jerusalem. In those areas they have created large agricultural settlements in which many Arabs work.Music: First, some rebetika, the music of the "Greek" people dispersed from Asia Minor in the ethnic cleansing of the 1920s, as played in Israel today. Totally different, when I posted the Specials earlier this week, I somehow managed to miss George Szirtes' fantastic "A few days of ska" series. I had never heard of Slim Smith, who is great. Here's a different sort of ska, from South London:
Comments
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?d=1936-06-24
In the They work for you site you can also search words attributed to a speaker, like "Arab", "immigration", "Palestine" or even "250,000" to, eg, Mr William Ormsby-Gore. I couldn't find anything to tally with the assertion that "Ormsby-Gore reported that since 1922, more than 250,000 Arabs have immigrated to Palestine." It makes no difference to anything unless one supports nativist discourse but can anyone find any evidence for what Forward is saying?
Mr Thomas Williams (Don Valley)
Anything that leads towards the truth will help to clear the mind of every hon. Member in the Committee. Another figure I want to use which will have to be treated with reserve is that since 1922, I am informed, the Arabs who have emigrated into Palestine, number round about 250,000. It may be including the natural increase, slightly more or slightly less, but the point remains just the same. If conditions are so intolerable in Palestine as some people would have us believe, why have this extra quarter of a million Arabs emigrated to Palestine? Where have these Arabs settled on arrival there? If one examines Palestine, one will find that they are very largely settled upon those areas where a large quantity of Jewish money has been expended and where there are opportunities, not only for industrial expansion and remunerative employment, but a decent and healthy social life. Therefore, we ought to ask ourselves this question, when dealing with the grave situation in Palestine: Can it be true that Part II of the Mandate has really been violated? I would rather put the question in the opposite way. Has Jewish immigration interfered with, or has it assisted, the Arabs? The presence of a large number of Jews has created a ready market for the agricultural produce of the Arab farmers. Many Arab farmers have copied modern methods and efficient farms to their own great advantage, and to the advantage of the country. There is remunerative employment available for all those who have gone into Palestine, and there is little or no unemployment. What has happened with regard to the wages of the workers? We are informed that during the past 12 or 14 years they have increased by 200 per cent. It is not a very large money wage, I agree—3s. per day. But 3s. in Palestine, compared with 10d. in Iraq, or 1s. in Egypt is a considerable improvement in that direction.
More.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1936/jun/24/palestine
What a way to spend a sunny sunday afternoon!
song came to the Balkans through Sephardic Jews. Hope you like it.
Idoli - The Defense and the Last Days (1982)
02. Poslednji dani 05. Nemo 10. Odbrana 11. Gdje si sad cica-maco 12. Glavna ptica
1. Clear them away 4. Winners 5. Youth does not justify unconsciousness
Live
11. Problem 10. O, O, O ... 8. Čovek 3. Fenomen
Mali čovek želi preko crte
02. Blago 03. Brod 04. More 07. Pustinja 08. More II 09. Modra rijeka II
Vojna Poema, Crtomir, Nova Akropola, Kapital, Decree, Jagerspiel
2. Kako ti drago 3. Aber dojde Donke 5. Dikijeva igra 7. Marija
Smak – Smak (1975)
03. Blues u parku 04. Biska 2 05. Put od balona
Nebo, Razgovori, Konobar, Pojmove ne povezujem, Infekcija, Voda u moru, Zlatni papagaj
Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors – Da Bog Da Crk'o Rok'N'Rol (1985)
Nosila je ljepotu ko prokletstvo, Krivo usmjeren
Enjoy!
I am away so have had to rely on the Internet so treat with caution. This seems to be one of those many myths that gets repeated as propaganda. From the best figures I could find the Arab population did increase from about 650,000 to 850,000 between 1922 and 1931. Therefore the statement takes that figure and assumes that it was all (plus a bit extra) due to immigration. Nothing to do with increasing fertility rates, nor the unreliability of previous census data.
In addition, even if there was substantial in-migration, relating it solely to economic development caused by Jewish immigration (around 90,000 over the same period) would seem to be pure guesswork, extremely unlikely (given employment practices) and would also exclude any development of the Palestinian Arab economy and any growth created by British Mandatory investment.
The first commenter gets it right about it making little difference, but these accumulated propaganda myths are used as tools of de-legitimation by one side or the other. I find it depressing how they have a life of their own despite the lack of substance.
Rural economy
The effects were felt differentially. Land sales by absentee landlords adversely affected the Arab peasantry who were cleared from the land and was a primary cause of unrest and migration to the cities. Many had lost title to their land as a result of the Ottoman land registration in the 1860s. This and the use of tax farming had led to a rapid decline in agriculture before the First World War and lowered the living standards of the peasants in Ottoman Palestine and elsewhere. So agricultural production rose, though from a low base, as a result of the ending of Ottoman practices. Though the benefit was mainly felt by the Palestinian land owning elites and Jewish settlements.
Urban development was aided by British mandatory construction projects that absorbed some of the dispossessed rural migrants.
Jewish investment and development did lead to a growth in the economy and employment for Arabs. However, the Histadrut's policy of exclusive Jewish labour (justified as a way of not being colonialists exploiting native labour, but instead being nation builders) limited the employment of Arabs and was seen as discrimination by Palestinians.
And, it is worth noting that Palestine too suffered from the great depression. It is hardly surprising that the first major rising by the Arabs was in 1929 and was followed by the general Arab Revolt in the mid 30s.
However, the way this argument was used was to promote the line that Jewish immigration had improved the lot of the Palestinians; saying that they were beneficiaries of Jewish immigration - an idea first floated in Herzl's novel Altneuland. This was certainly not true for some of the rural population displaced through land sales and it misses the whole point about the conflict developing in Mandatory Palestine. This was not about economic development, it was about sovereignty - and it still is.
Secondly, as a result, Palestine was able to benefit from the boom years of the 1920's as much as it suffered from the crash of '29.
After the disturbances of 1921, economic growth cushioned the impact of immigration, though the problems were still there, which is why they re-emerged in 1929, with a far wider outbreak of violent Arab opposition.
http://tinyurl.com/6ahtqwp
for demographic info for the period from the 1890s to 1948. I am guessing Peter will know of it. The author has an interesting article, again on demographics, on Palestine Remembered http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story559.html