Agricultural land in Palestine: Letters to Sir Moses Montefiore, 1839 RUTH KARK Letters on the subject of land and agriculture, written by the Jews of Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem and Hebron to Sir Moses Monteflore during his second visit to Palestine in 1839, have been dealt with by various authors. Some have seen them in the context of the history of themovement for Jewish national revival and the 'Hibbat Zion' movement, or of European concepts about 'the restoration of the Jews'.1 Others have used them as sources for the study of the history of Jewish settlement in Palestine and of the attempts of Jews to engage in productive occupations there.2 Most authors, however, did not study the documents themselves very carefully. A more detailed examina? tion was published by Israel Bartal.3 The present paper focuses on the availability of land and agricultural activity in Palestine during the period of the Egyptian occupation (1831-41). It is based on a close study of the original manuscripts of the letters, and forms part of a broader study on changes in the pattern of land ownership in Palestine between 1800 and 1917, and their effecton settlement. The letters4 represent a rich, but barely tapped resource relating to the Egyptian administration, and to the historical geography and economic history of the Middle East and Palestine. They contain information on the period preceding the Egyptian occupation as well as on the period of occupation itself, and include references to the state of security (looting and banditry, for example), the treatment of minorities, taxation, local rulers, public health (epidemics) and natural disasters (earthquakes). They also contain information on economic ventures as varied as crafts, trade with Egypt, and details on themeasures in use, currency exchange rates, interest rates and prices. Especially important iswhat can be learned about the land situation in Palestine during the 1830s, a subject on which information is relatively scarce. The letters are informative also on the ownership and owners of land (the government, effendis,Muslims, Christians and Jews), the fellahin, the size of the cultivated areas in the villages, systems of economic cooperation linking town-dwellers and villagers and members of different religions, forms of land tenure, crops and their regional variation, livestock and their produce, the annual expenses and income of farming, agricultural taxation, and more. The aim of this article is briefly to review the features of the Egyptian administration inPalestine and itsspecial characteristics against the background of the period, and to examine in greater detail the legal status of land and the attitude of the authorities towards minorities in general, and in particular 207 Jewish Historical Society of England is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Jewish Historical Studies ® www.jstor.org Ruth Kark towards Jews who wished to acquire and cultivate land. The documents reveal a picture of land available for purchase and agricultural possibilities, and provide a data-base for analysing the geographical distribution of tracts of land, the characteristics of sites, the extent of population, the types of settle? ment, and also the forms of tenure, the crops planted and the cost of cultiva? tion. The relevant original letterswere carefully deciphered and examined with emphasis on the aspects of historical geography, in order to relate discussion of the spatial dimension to the historical dimension, as is presented on p. 220. The author chose not to deal here in detail with the historiography of the attitude of the Jews in Palestine and elsewhere towards agriculture and productive labour, or with the religious or ideological factors represented in phrases such as 'the beginning of the redemption' or 'everyman under his vine and under his fig-tree'.5 GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION The letters dealing with land and agricultural work sent to Sir Moses Montefiore in 1839 should be considered in the context of the conquest and occupation of Syria and Palestine by Muhammad Ali, between 1831 and 1841. Martin Seliger has pointed out that this regime introduced a feature not previously known in the region: public order, a visible degree of public justice, and regulation of the economy, particularly agriculture. A centralized admini? stration was set up, operating on instructions from Egypt, and the inhabitants of the country enjoyed security of lifeand property.6 Improvements in the administration and its enhanced presence throughout the country provided, above all, increased internal security. Several sources from the period of Muhammad Ali's occupation emphasize the significant change which occurred. The country had become far more peaceful.7 The impact of this change on matters of land and agriculture is described in a letter written to Montefiore on 15 Av 5609 (4 August 1849), by the heads of the Ashkenazi kollelim in Jerusalem (organizational frameworks of Ashkenazi families who originated from a particular country or region in Europe). The writers recall that under the rule of the Pasha of Egypt, the Jews of Jerusalem were able to consider taking up agriculture-ploughing, sowing and the like-because the Pasha had disarmed the Arabs, recruited them into his army and made them fear him. With the return of the Ottomans to the country in 1841 the situation deteriorated once again. They felt that it was not worthwhile considering anything in theway of agriculture 'because the fruitof their labour would be carried offby their enemies and their very lives would be in danger...'8 I. Hofman, who studied the period, cites numerous consular dispatches and other reports which confirm this, and adds that one way Ibrahim Pasha (the son ofMuhammad Ali) aimed to promote security was by attempting to keep the Bedouins under control and settle them.9 208 Agricultural land in Palestine For political and economic reasons, which we shall not detail here, the Egyptian administration treated Christians and Jewswith greater tolerance and equality. Despite the opposition of the Muslim majority, discrimination against Jews and Christians inmatters such as dress, construction, taxation, law and justice, was abolished (though not military conscription).10 In a meeting with Montefiore in June 1839, Ahmed Duzdar, the governor of Jerusalem, explained the new policy of equality this way: 'You know the age when itwas said, This is a Christian, and that a Jew, and there is a Mussulman! but now... these times are past. Never ask what he is: let him be ofwhatsoever religion he may, do him justice, as the Lord of theworld desired of us!'11 The Egyptian administration initiated activities aimed at developing agri? culture and commerce. Before the conquest, agriculture in Palestine was in a state of neglect and decline, villages were decaying and were being abandoned. This was the result of instability regarding the ownership of land, various kinds of government taxes and assessments which made agriculture unprofitable, and a reluctance to invest in this branch due to the insecurity of life and property.12 The Egyptians encouraged the cultivation of lands which had formerly been abandoned, and the authorities took large-scale measures in the sphere of agriculture to improve and increase output. In many cases, though, this policy was executed in a tyrannical and arbitrary manner, causing hardship to the population, mainly because many villagers were drafted for long periods of compulsory labour, together with their work animals, and because Muslim men were subject tomilitary conscription.13 Ibrahim showed a marked interest in agricultural matters, first in Egypt and later in Syria. This was evident in experiments with new crops (coffee, indigo, Egyptian cotton, the planting of 300,000 olive trees in the vicinity of Acre and the introduction of a Spanish breed of sheep to the same area). The local inhabitants were impressed by the change, and inmany places they themselves began planting and preparing land for cultivation. Many villages which had been abandoned were settled anew. Ibrahim invested considerable capital in agricultural projects.14 Within two years, the area of land in Syria and Palestine under cultivation increased by more than 80,000 feddans. In his correspondence, Muhammad Ali frequently requested an enumeration of the populated villages which had been resettled, the number of feddans under cultivation, the number of ploughs supplied, and similar reports. J.Bowring, the British Consul, relates in a report of 1839 that the Government ordered all its senior officials and army officers, and the wealthiest people, to take on themselves the resettlement of ruined villages and the cultivation of the land attached to them, in order to promote agricultural development. The Austrian Consul of the time, A. Laurin (cited by Hofman), refers to the problems hampering agriculture: military conscription, confiscation ofwork animals and other essentials, and compulsory labour.15 Alongside these actions were restrictions resulting from the imposition of 209 Ruth Kark government monopolies on various branches of agriculture and trade, and heavy taxes which were systematically and brutally collected. In thismanner the bulk of income flowed into the government's treasury. Cultivators paid taxes to the government (directly or through tax-farmers) inmoney or in kind (wheat, barley, sorghum, butter, for example), proportional to the number of feddans they worked. The village headman