Land Registration in Palestine before 1948 (Nakba): Table 2 showing Holdings of Large Jewish Lands Owners as of December 31st, 1945, British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 245. Chapter VIII: Land: Section 3.
As of 1947, Zionist enterprises (i.e., JNF & Keren Hayesod) owned UNDER 6% of Palestine's lands (see the Jewish Agency's 1947 official publication, p. 121). After the 1948 war, 80% of the Palestinian people were DISPOSSESSED of their homes, farms, and businesses. Scroll below for the primary sources (from the UN & British Mandate) that show a tabular breakdown of land ownership at district and village levels. It should be noted that as of 1948:1) Jews were a 1/3 of the total population and only a 1/4th of those gained Palestinian citizenship (meaning 10% of the total)! 2) Over 90% of Jewish-owned lands were titled in the name of corporations (Keren Hayesod & JNF -- formerly Palestine Colonization Company), which is neither a citizen nor an individual, which explains why you will rarely find such pre-Nakba land deeds for Jews! 3) the original UN Map was revised two years after Nakba in August 1950 (see bottom lower corners). 4) Palestinians who are Israeli citizens (22% of the total population) are restricted to under 3% of the lands. 5) Just in case you distrust British Mandate sources, here is the founder of the "Jewish state," David Ben-Gurion, confirming similar data as late as Jan. 1966, who also professed that Palestinians are descendants of the Israelites! 6) And if you are curious, here is a growing list of Palestinian land deeds. In this regard, it is telling how we found only a handful of land deeds for the Jewish citizens of Palestine during the pre-Nakba period; that is why Israelis lease lands from either the state or JNF. We wonder: do Palestinians have the right to resist those who have been squattering on their lands for the past 76 years? Why do usurpers of Palestinian lands have the "right of self-defense" but Palestinians don't?
Just Imagine someone sitting in your chair for over seven decades. Again, imagine this person was sitting in your house and eating from your trees! Please tell us how you would feel in the comments section.
The same map is on the UN's website. Sometimes, the UN's link is taken down. If that happens, God forbid, we managed to track the archived version at Archive.org. Please pay attention to the lower left-hand corner; the map was updated in August 1950 (two years after Nakba) and sourced from the British Mandate's Village Statistics of 1945. Here is a page-by-page scan showing land ownership village by village.
Concerning Beersheba, Miri, And Public Land (a.k.a. State Domain Land)
As you contemplate this map and the below figures, please keep in mind that A) Beersheba was not subject to Land Settlement of Title law (a.k.a. farzz or land ownership assignment) yet as of Nakba; that is why large tracts of land were designated as "public" which doesn't mean State-owned as it will be proven shortly. It should be NOTED that as of Nakba, only 17% (4,500 sq. km./26,320 sq. km.) of the lands came under the Land Settlement of Title law. B) Public Lands doesn't imply that the land can be freely disposed of (a.k.a. tassarouf) by the State unless the land deed was issued (meaning the land has become mulk; as you will see below, State-owned lands were under 1%). The State officially owns the land ONLY when a land deed (title) has been issued and all claims have been settled (note the court system was filled with such claims even during Nakba); for the details, please read the Survey of Palestine pages 225 to 229 and Land Ownership in Palestine by Sami Hadawi pages 10 to 18. Please NOTE how Wikipedia's editors misquoted Mr. Hadawi twice when they said that:i) "state-owned" instead of state domain or public lands (none of the sources cited wrote state-owned; all cited sources reported either public or state domain lands), and when they reported that ii) state domain lands were 46% without also referencing the critical note in the last paragraph on page 17; both of these critical misquotations completely negated Wikipedia's central claim. Now, with regards to miri land, let's define it first: miri is a State grant of unassigned State land (a.k.a. usufruct) in return for a fee or tax (more like a grant of indefinite lease -- Survey of Palestine, p. 255-6). The State holds Miri land's title but with no tassarouf right until farzz or land assignment occurs. Miri land could be titled (a.k.a. mulk) in the grantee's name for a fee, which was uncommon during the Ottoman period to avoid military service. It should be noted that miri land could be passed on as inheritance when the grantee dies (succession), mortgaged, and sold to pay a mortgage by the grantee (i.e., the farmer) even when farzz or land assignment didn't occur (Survey of Palestine, p. 230). Please pay attention to our collection of land deeds, where much of them were initially miri lands when they came under the land settlement law. Therefore, if miri lands (which comprised the vast majority of state-held lands) were State-owned with full tassarouf right (a.k.a mulk), how could the British Mandate cede much of its lands this way? Why such land were not ceded to Zionist Jews? The answer is simple: the government deeded the lands to those who owned it.
In a nutshell, State domain lands (or public lands) means that the State is just the holding legal entity with no tassarouf right until the land comes under the land settlement of title and all claims are settled; that is how land settlement happens; not just in Palestine but worldwide. C) When you examine the primary source (Village Statistics of 1945, p. 33), you will see that public lands for Beersheba were 1,815 dunums only (see the last 12 columns), and that implied that 85% of Beersheba's land should have been categorized under State domain control but with no tassarouf right. Mr. Hadawi (in Land Ownership in Palestine) made such an implication very clear on page 15, especially considering his critical note on page 17. This analysis explains why the Survey of Palestine designated under 1% of the land as State-owned. D) Beersheba (Negev) was populated and owned by Palestinian tribes at a rate of 99%, and Jews made up under 1% (much of whom were not citizens of the country) of Beersheba's population. Keep in mind that Zionist Jews, to this date, STILL teach their kids that 1% of the population in Negev managed to reverse global warming and bloomed the desert. E) Census data concerning Beersheba was highly under-reported. Only a few Palestinian Bedouin tribes cooperated with the authorities. F) The Palestinian tribes practiced rotated cultivation since the land was not fertile and no fertilizers were used. Therefore, the actual cultivated land must be twice (4,000,000 dunums) what was reported (2,000,000). G) As if further proof is needed, we are forced to cite the Jewish Agency's publication in 1947 (p. 134) showing that 99% of the land sale transactions (from Arabs to Zionist enterprises such as JNF and Keren Hayesod) didn't involve the governments whatsoever. Therefore, from where did Zionists buy the land? The answer is simple: Zionist enterprises bought the lands from those who owned lands, and the state sold very little land because it owned little to begin with! If you have appreciation for the boring details, here is land related land sale and purchase transactions during the critical year of Zionist developments between 1933 and 1939 (Statistical Abstract For Palestine, 1940 by the British Mandate, p. 173).
Ownership of land in Palestine, Share of Palestinian Arabs and Jews as of April 1st, 1943 (Survey of Palestine, p. 566)
Here is land related land sale and purchase transactions during the critical year of Zionist developments (5th Aliyah) between 1933 and 1939 (Statistical Abstract For Palestine, 1940 by the British Mandate, p. 173). If lands in Palestine were mostly owned by the state, then why did most of the land sale and purchase transactions rarely involve the government? As you see below, most land-related transactions involve who owned the lands: Palestinian Arabs
Here is similar data sourced from Jewish Agency's own publication (Statistical Handbook of Jewish Palestine, 1947, p. 134):
And here is land ownership as of 1940 from the British Mandate's Statistical Abstract For Palestine, 1940 , (p. 172) as you see most of the land was purchased from Palestinian Arabs when the Haavara Agreement between Nazi regime and the Zionist movement was active in the 1930s:
Just in case we did fail to convince you of the Palestinian case, we urge you to watch this American Indian articulation of Palestinians' point of view in under 30 seconds:
Village Statistics Project: This is the most detailed study of every Palestinian and Zionist Jewish town in Palestine before Nakba. It includes all sorts of data that you can imagine: landownership, population, land usage, education, etc.
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Just Imagine someone sitting in your chair for over seven decades. Again, imagine this person was sitting in your house and eating from your trees! Please tell us how you would feel in the comments section.
In a nutshell, State domain lands (or public lands) means that the State is just the holding legal entity with no tassarouf right until the land comes under the land settlement of title and all claims are settled; that is how land settlement happens; not just in Palestine but worldwide. C) When you examine the primary source (Village Statistics of 1945, p. 33), you will see that public lands for Beersheba were 1,815 dunums only (see the last 12 columns), and that implied that 85% of Beersheba's land should have been categorized under State domain control but with no tassarouf right. Mr. Hadawi (in Land Ownership in Palestine) made such an implication very clear on page 15, especially considering his critical note on page 17. This analysis explains why the Survey of Palestine designated under 1% of the land as State-owned. D) Beersheba (Negev) was populated and owned by Palestinian tribes at a rate of 99%, and Jews made up under 1% (much of whom were not citizens of the country) of Beersheba's population. Keep in mind that Zionist Jews, to this date, STILL teach their kids that 1% of the population in Negev managed to reverse global warming and bloomed the desert. E) Census data concerning Beersheba was highly under-reported. Only a few Palestinian Bedouin tribes cooperated with the authorities. F) The Palestinian tribes practiced rotated cultivation since the land was not fertile and no fertilizers were used. Therefore, the actual cultivated land must be twice (4,000,000 dunums) what was reported (2,000,000). G) As if further proof is needed, we are forced to cite the Jewish Agency's publication in 1947 (p. 134) showing that 99% of the land sale transactions (from Arabs to Zionist enterprises such as JNF and Keren Hayesod) didn't involve the governments whatsoever. Therefore, from where did Zionists buy the land? The answer is simple: Zionist enterprises bought the lands from those who owned lands, and the state sold very little land because it owned little to begin with! If you have appreciation for the boring details, here is land related land sale and purchase transactions during the critical year of Zionist developments between 1933 and 1939 (Statistical Abstract For Palestine, 1940 by the British Mandate, p. 173).
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