User:Tiamut/Musha'

Musha' is the name for a system of property ownership or land tenure that was in use among the Arabs of Palestine prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948. It entailed the joint farming of a given plot of land, combining communal and individual rights and duties. Periodically, the plot in question would be redivided between those entitled to a share, on the basis of customary quotas or capacity, to be cultivated for a set period of time by these individuals or their families. While in theory it pertained only to cultivated land, primarily field crops, there were exceptions to this rule.

Overview

Musha' has several meanings in Arabic, most of them pertaining to the joint property rights of a group of people. The size of the group can vary from a few people to the entire population of the country. For example, common grazing lands among the Druze in the Hawran mountains were called musha'. Generally however, it refers to land tenure under a more narrowly circumscribed system.

History

The musha' system was in use for hundreds of years among the Arabs of Palestine. After the establishment of the British Mandate in Palestine following World War I, the British, who viewed the musha' system to be "archaic", "inefficient", "irrational" and a drain on agricultural production, set about reforming the land ownership system in Palestine. The Musha' Land Committee of 1923 surveyed 4,860,000 dunams of land in 753 villages in Palestine in 1928 and determined that 56% of this land was held in musha' with wide regional variations. For example, in the area south of the Jerusalem District, up to 80% of the land was held in musha', while in the Jerusalem District itself, it was only 5% musha'. The British committee recommended the establishment of local committees who would set about partitioning the musha' holdings and registering the newly sectioned parts to individuals; however, the recommendations were for the most part not implemented.

Bibliography

• Fischbach, Michael R. (2000), State, society, and land in Jordan (Illustrated ed.), BRILL, ISBN 9004119124, 9789004119123 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Krämer, Gudrun; Harman, Graham (2008), A history of Palestine: from the Ottoman conquest to the founding of the state of Israel (Illustrated ed.), Princeton University Press, ISBN 0691118973, 9780691118970 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Nadan, Amos (2006), The Palestinian Peasant Economy Under the Mandate: A Story of Colonial Bungling (Illustrated ed.), Harvard CMES, ISBN 0674021355, 9780674021358 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)