Survey of Palestine refutes
"land without people" myth.
Palestinians made the desert bloom
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=71231&s2=28
1948 Lest We
Forget has obtained a copy of the full Survey of
Palestine (Including the map survey) for its
records. The following outline extracts shed more
light on the Zionist lies about Palestine being
"a land without people
." We
recommend that Survey to all our Supporters.
By
Antoine Raffoul, Coordinator
1948: LEST WE FORGET
http://www.1948.org.uk
In December 1945 and
January 1946, the British Mandate authorities
carried out an extensive survey of Palestine , in
support of the work of the United Nations Special
Committee on Palestine. The results were
published in the Survey of Palestine, which has
been scanned and made available online by
Palestine Remembered; all 1300 pages can be read
here.
One of the
subjects investigated in the Survey of
Palestine is land use; specifically, which crops
were Palestine's leading agricultural products at
the end of the British Mandate, and whose farms
were producing them.
So, according to the
Survey of Palestine, who really made the barley
fields of Beersheba bloom?
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestinian farmers
produced approximately 210,000 tons of grain.
About 193,400 tons of
that grain were cultivated on Palestinian farms;
about 16,600 tons were cultivated on Jewish farms.
...
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestinian farmers
produced approximately 143,000 tons of melons.
About 136,000 tons of
those melons were cultivated on Palestinian farms;
a little over 7,000 tons were cultivated on
Jewish farms. ...
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestinian farmers
produced approximately 1,683 tons of tobacco, on
28,169 dunams of land. Virtually all the land
under tobacco cultivation was Palestinian.
Who made the vineyards of
Hebron bloom?
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestines farmers
produced approximately 40-50,000 tons of grapes,
and between 3-4 million litres of wine. About 86%
of the land that produced these products was
owned and cultivated by Palestinians. ...
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestinian farmers
produced approximately 79,000 tons of olives.
About 78,000 tons of
those olives were cultivated on Palestinian farms;
a little over 1,000 tons were cultivated on
Jewish farms. ...
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestinian farmers
produced approximately 8,000 tons of bananas.
About 60% of the land
that produced these bananas was owned and
cultivated by Palestinians. ...
The British government
survey found that in 1944-45 Palestines farmers
produced approximately 245,000 tons of vegetables.
About 189,000 tons of
those vegetables were cultivated by Palestinian
farmers; about 56,000 tons were cultivated by
Jewish farmers. ...
So, on the eve of the
partition resolution, in which the United Nations
proposed to allocate 55 percent of the land to
Jewish Palestine (including those parts that
produced most of Palestine's leading crops, with
the sole exception of the olive crop), and 45% to
Arab Palestine, Palestinian Arabs were producing:
92% of Palestine grain
86% of its grapes
99% of its olives
77 % of its vegetables
95% of its melons
more than 99% of its
tobacco
and 60% of its bananas.
Palestine's agricultural
produce at that time had an annual value of
approximately 21.8 million pounds sterling; 17.1
million of which was produced by Arab cultivation,
and 4.7 million by Jewish cultivation. (as seen
in below table). ...
So, who made the desert
bloom? The Palestinians made the desert bloom.
Photos: All the
photographs of Palestinian farmers cultivating
their crops in Palestine under the British
Mandate are from Before Their Diaspora: A
Photographic History Of The Palestinians 1876
1948, by Walid Khalidi.
US report:
Religious coercion, violence in Israel rising
State Department's annual
International Religious Freedom Report points to
strict conversion policy, segregated bus lines,
violent haredi protests in Jewish state
Kobi Nahshoni
Published:
11.19.10, 07:58 / Israel
Jewish Scene
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3986722,00.html
The past year has seen a
significant rise in religious coercion and
violence on a religious background in Israel, a
US State Department report on religious freedom
issued on Wednesday stated. The report surveys
religious freedom parameters in some 200
countries around the world and devotes a 29-page
chapter to Israel.
The report states that
"approximately 360,000 citizens who
immigrated from the former-Soviet Union under the
Law of Return but are not considered Jewish by
the Orthodox Rabbinate, cannot be buried in
Jewish cemeteries, divorce, or marry within the
country."
It also noted that most
of the Jews in Israel are not religious-Orthodox
and oppose the Orthodox establishment's control
of crucial aspects of their lives.
The report also mentiones
the High Rabbinical Court's 2009 ruling which
cast a doubt on 40,000 conversions performed by
the state.
According to the report,
there has been a significant rise in hostility
manifestations between secular Jews and religious
Jews in the past year and pointed to violent
haredi demonstrations involving vandalism and
violence towards police officers.
Inter-religious conflicts
are also mentioned: "There were reports on
haredi Jews insulting and spitting at priests and
nuns, and defacing with graffiti and throwing
garbage and dead cats at monasteries in Jerusalem."
In the field of religious
coercion, the report pointed to the separation
between men and women in services in the Western
Wall and the operation of the ultra-Orthodox
chastity squads.
Segregated bus lines
The State Department also
reported that the "public transportation
company, Egged, continued to operate some sex-segregated
buses along inter-and intra-city routes
frequented by ultra-Orthodox Jews" and noted
that "women who refused to sit at the back
of such buses risked harassment and physical
assault by male passengers."
The report states that
"ultra-Orthodox groups that proselytize
secular Jews, encouraging them to adopt ultra-Orthodox
practices and beliefs, enjoyed government funding."
On the other hand, it was also noted that the
Supreme Court continued to issue rulings based on
freedom of religion and equality. The report also
addressed the growing tension between the
Orthodox establishment and the secular courts,
particularly in relation to the Emmanuel affair.
Chairman of the Hiddush
foundation For Freedom of Religion and Equality,
Rabbi Uri Regev said in response: "It
appears that when it comes to religious freedom
Israel is closer to radical Islam countries than
the Western democratic world.
"The report
discusses at length the Israeli government's
capitulation to the haredi parties' extortion and
the way in which it compromises marriage
rights, freedom of worship, women's dignity, the
immigrant population, the non-Jewish communities
and many others as part of a policy which gains
power by funding religious institutes and
capitulting to religious coercion while
disregarding the will of the majority of the
Jewish people in Israel and in the Diaspora."