UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS CENTRAL CIRCULATION BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or its return to the library from which it was borrowed on or before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each lost book. Tbaft, imitUotloii, and imdeiilnlng of booki are reasons for disciplinary action and may result In dismissal from the University. TO RENEW CALL TEIEPHONE CENTER, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. LI 62 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/arabimmigrationi26gott 1^ J^t) Faculty Working Papers Arab Immigration into Prc-State Israel: 1922-1931 Fred M. Gottheil University of Illinois College of Commerce and Business Administration University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign FACULTY WORKING PAPERS College of Conmerce and Business Administration University of Illinois at Urbana-Champalgn August 17, 1971 Arab Immigration into Pre-State Israel: 1922-1931 Fred M. Gottheil University of Illinois No. 26 Arab Immigration into Pre-State Israel: 1922-1931 Fred 1!. Gottheil As a historical event of major consequence, it is not surprising that there are at least two conflicting accounts concerning immigration into Palestine prior to the formation of the State of Israel. One account, for example, depicts Jewish immigration into Palestine primarily in terms of filling up vast empty spaces of sparsely populated land. Much of this description centers upon the drainage of the northern marshes and the reclamation of the desert. Essentially, it is an account of man versus nature. Only parenthetically does it consider Arab immigration or the impact of Jex^ish immigration on the resident Arab population. By contrast, a second version shifts the focus of discussion to population displacement. It describes the same Jewish immigration as creating in Palestine a demographic overcapacity situation with the indigenous Arab population being forced off the settled land. In this case, it is Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana and Visiting Professor of Economics at The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. The author acknovjledges the helpful comments of Professor Kaim Barkai and Nahum Gross of the Hebrew University on an earlier draft of this paper. ^ "Regions that but a few years ago were barren sand dunes, bare hills or pestilential swamps, have been converted into fertile agricultural land dotted v/ith pleasing villages, and where people can live in the faith of their fathers and the children grex'/ up happily. The labour was arduous, but it V7as cheerfully, even joyfully undertaken and it was lightened by the generous help given by Jews all over the world." Sir John Russell in f onward to Lox^dermilk, W. C. . Palestine; Land of Promise , London, Gollancz, 1945. 2 "The Increase in Jewish immigration was accompanied by large scale acquisition of land and large-scale dispossession of (continued on p. 2) f>rn -2- account of man versus man for control and oiraership of extremely limited natural resources. ^ Both descriptions survive today as historical summaries of pre-Israel Palestine. Although there is substantial disagreement in the two accounts concerning the impact of immigration, there is no disagreement as to its source . Both emphasize its Jewish origins. Almost completely lost in these accounts is an analysis of concurrent Arab immigration. References to such immigration are made only in passim and the conclusion reached is that for purposes of permanent settlement, Arab immigration was insignificant. This conclusion, however, has not gone completely unchallenged. The Royal Institute for International Affairs, for example, coimnenting on the 2 (continued) Arabs. Thousands of Arab farm families, driven from the land which they and their ancestors had lived, were forced to go to the towns. The Jews aimed at controlling the economic life of the country. A landless and distorted class was created." Rousan, Ilahmoud, Palestine and the Internationalization of Jerusalem , The Ministry of Culture and Guidance, Government of Iraq, Bagdad, 1965, p. 31, o ■^It is this second version that is reflected in the Shax^ ( Palestine Commission on the Disturbances of August, 1929 , Cmd. 3530, London, 1930) and Simpson (Palestine Report on Immigration. Land Settlement. and Development , Cmd. 3686, London, 1930) Commission Reports v/hich subsequently formed the basis of British policy restricting Jewish immigration into Palestine during the 1930s and 1940s. ^It is noteworthy that this conclusion is represented in Arab, Jevd.sh, and British writing alike. See, for example, Hopkins, L. , "Population," Economic Organization of Palestine , edited by Himadeh, Sa'id, American Press, Beirut, 1938, p. 19; Ruppin, A., "Population of Palestine," Palestine and Near East Economic Magazine , Nos. 5 and 6, 1927, p. 130; and Survey of Palestine , Vol. I, Government of Palestine, Government Printer, 1946, p. 212. ..!(.! ;:;•);• ■'it-.s ■•■.a. ■ i;fj,''i,U .: ...— _,!■ •.... ■ , } . ; ■n • :<.n: -3- growth of the Palestinian population prior to World TIar II, states: "The Number of Arabs xjho entered Palestine illegally from Syria and Trans- jordan is unknovm. But probably considerable.''^ Professor Harold Laskl makes a similar observation; There has been large-scale and both assisted and unassisted Jeii^ish emigration to Palestine- but it is important also to note that there has been large-scale Arab emigration from the surrounding countries." Underscoring the point, C. S. Jarvis, Governor of the Sinai from 1923-1936, noted: '*This illegal immigration was not only going on from the Sinai, but also from Trans-Jordan and Syria and it is very difficult to make a case out for the misery of the Arabs if at the same time their compatriots from adjoining States could not be kept from going in to share that misery.' Even the Simpson Report acknov/ledged Arab immigration in this form: Another serious feature of immigration is the number of persons v7ho evade the frontier control and enter Palestine without formality of any kind. It is exceedingly difficult to maintain any effective con- trol of the various frontiers of Palestine. At the present time such controls as exists is carried out at police posts on the roads. The immigrant who wishes to evade the control naturally leaves the road before reaching the frontier and takes to the footpaths over the Hills . . . The Chief Immigra- tion Officer has brought to the notice that illicit immigration through Syria and across the northern frontier of Palestine is material. ° 5 Great Britain and Palestine, 1915-1945, Royal Institute for International Affairs, Information Papers no. 20, London, p. 64. "'Palestine: The Economic Aspect," Palestine's Economic Future, Ed., J. B. Brovra, P. L. Humphries and Company Limited, London, 1946, p. 34. ^United Empire, Vol. 28, p. 633. "Palestine Report on Immigration, Land Settlement, and Development , London, 1930, pp. 126 and 138. -4- Other writers make this same point. Although Arab immigration has been described as 'considerable,' large-scale,' and "material." such descrip- tions are nonetheless lacking in precision. This paper presents some statistical evidence concerning Arab Immigration into Palestine. The following issues will be considered: T'Jhat was the Arab population size in Israel in 1922 and how rapidly did this population grov;? Tlhat percent of this growth can be attributed to natural increase and what percent to immigration? How do the demographic patterns in pre-State Israel compare with those in non-Israel Palestine-, during the 1922-1931 period, and what explanations can be offered to explain divergent patterns? Although data i^ill be presented for all of Palestine, a ^See Ilorovritz, D. , "Arab Economy in Palestine," Palestine's Economic Future , P. L. Humphries Co., London, 1946, p. 65; Gervasi, F., To ^Jhom Palestine ?, D. Appleton-Century, New York 1946, p. 79; Nem.irovsky, U. , 'Jewish Immigration and Arab Population," Jews and Arabs in Palestine , Ed., Sereni, E. , and Ashery, ^-. , Hehalutz Press, Hew York, 1936, p, 81* Jewish Agency for Palestine, Iiemorandum submitted to the Palestine Royal Ccmmission , London, 1936, p. 109. lOlhe few estimates offered simply mention numbers. No documentation is oresented. Nonetheless, the numbers are of interest: Gervasi mentions 60,000-80,000 for 1926-1946, op. cit . , p. 79, 20,000-30,000 is recorded for 1922-1927 by the Je^7ish Plan fv^r Palestine: r.emoranda and Statements, presented by The Jewish Agen cy for Palestine to the United Matioiis Special Commitizee ou Palestine , Jerusalem, 1947, p. il5. 40,000 for 1919-1944 ia mentioned in Nathan, R. , Gass, 0., and Creamer. D. , Palestine: Problems and Promise , Public Affairs Press, Washington, 1946, p. 136. David Horowitz and Rita Hinden vjrite: 'The official net immigration figures are obviously an underestimate, as izhey include neither illegal Jevd.sh immigrants nor the steady influx of Arabs from the surrounding countries. The official net immigration for 1922-1936 is about 250,000, whereas the figure we arrive at . . . was 322,000 - a difference of nearly 30 percent.' Economic Survey of Palestine , Hapoel- Hazair Co-operative Press, Tel-Aviv, 1938, p. 28. ; :• K , . ; , . ,7;;. .■, distinction will be draxm between Arab iimnigration into the part of Palestine that later becomes Israel and the non-Israel sector of Palestine. The analvsis will emphasize the former. The Application of Palestine Census Data to Pre-State Israel: 1922-1931 Census data for Palestine is available only for the years 1922 and 1931. Prior to 1922, there existed, at best, educated guesses. Since 1931, population estimates were derived by applying natural rates 12 of growth and registered immigration to the 1931 numbers. Because these population estimates make no attempt to measure unrecorded immigration, the reliability of these numbers is considerably less than those of the census years. For this reason, the analysis here is restricted to the census period 1922-1931. The transfer of this census data to pre-State Israel is complicated by the character of the Israel borders which were not entirely aligned with the administrative subdlstricts of Palestine upon which the statistical reporting of population was made. In 1922, population data for Palestine 11a. II. Carr-Saunders 5 for example, estimates Arab population in Palestine in 1919 at 642,000. World Population , Carendon Press, 1936, p. 307. l^See Survey of Palestine , Government of Palestine, Government Printer, Palestine, 1946, Vol. I, p. 140; Hovne, A., Labor Force in Israel, The Ilaurice Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel, Jerusalem, 1961, p. 29. l3"There has been unrecorded illegal immigration both of Jews and of Arabs in the period since the census of 1931, but no estimate of its volume will be possible until the next census is taken.'' Report by His llajesty's Government on Palestine and Transjordan , London, 1937, p. 221. No census V7as taken. -6- was arranged by the British Mandatory Government in 18 subdistricts according to urban or rural location and according to religion. The relationship between these subdistricts and the State of Israel is illustrated in Table 1. Table I Palestine and Israel (by subdistrict) Subdistricts Subdistricts entirely within Israel Safad Acre Na?:areth Haifa Beisan Jaffa Ramie Beersheba Tiberias partially within Israel Jenin Tulkarm Jerusalem Hebron Gaza Bethlehem Subdistricts entirely outside Israel llablus Ramallah Jericho Source: Survey of Palestine, Vol. I., 1946, p. 145. The Problem of identifyinp; the 1922 Arab population as pre-State Israel or non-Israel Palestine is thus reduced to an intra-subdistrict analysis of population allocation in the 6 subdistricts that are only partially included in the State of Israel. A disaggregation of the census data from the subdistrict level to the village level for those subdistricts X'jhose domain includes the Israel border permits a reclassification of the Palestine census data into Israeli Arab and non-Israeli Arab population. rj:;J : -fV..' f:.i r,[>. on-fu- :■■■■).<. :•..;, Kitt -7- The results are seen in Table 2.^^ Arab Population in Pre-State Israel: 1922-1931 Total Arab settled population in the pre-State Israel sector of Palestine increased during the 1922-1931 oeriod from 321,866 to 463,288, or bv 141,422. This population increase reflects both natural increases and increases through immigration. Since natural rates of growth for the Arab population of Palestine are available for the 1922-1931 period (Table 3), the relative contributions of natural increase and immigration can be measured . l^The transformation of population data in the form of Moslems, Christians and other non-Jews to Arab population was made according to the equation: Arab Population =0.82 Christian +1.00 'loslem +0.90 other non- Jews. Palestine Blue Book 1938 , Government Printer, Jerusalem, n.d., p. 328. The distinction betv;een settled and total population is made by excluding the nomadic tribes of the Beersheba subdistrict. Mills, E. , op. cit. , Preface to the Census of Palestine 1931. '';f :r^'!-'!':}''. -'XVyt'.? :)1:= . . :^r^u^.■■ ' 'I'-K: <<•:'.' l.t 3 , + ri. ■■\-yvi ! "!'■ - ■-)■ -8- Table 2 Arab Settled Population 1922 and 1931 in Pre-State Israel and Mon-Israel Palestine (by subdistricts) Subdistrict Pre-State Israel Non-Israel Palestine 1922 1931 1922 1931 Safad 18,720 35,751 Acre 34,276 43,465 Nazareth 20,713 24,090 Haifa 45,712 69,136 Beisan 9,925 13,087 Jaffa 39,866 73,927 Pvamle 44,465 61,329 Beersheba 2,258 2,948 Tiberias 14,245 18,877 Jenin 5,430 7,014 27,978 34,239 Tulkarm 13,424 17,016 21,477 28,581 Jerusalem 18,799 29,201 35,272 45,266 Hebron 11,246 14,359 41,881 53,114 Gaza 42,563 52,763 29,055 42,288 Bethlehem 224 325 22,554 21,444 Nablus 56,482 68,477 Ramallah 28,948 37,771 Jericho 1,888 3,192 Totals 321,866 463,288 265,535 334,372 Source : Bar ron, J. Gove mm B,, Report and ( General Abstracts of the Census of 1922, Jerusalem, ent Printer, , m.d . ntllSy E. ; , Census of Palestine 1931, Population of Villages , To\jns , , and Administrative Areas, Jerusa lem. , 1932. ■'tt.. 'i.h:^\ -!■> .V^i-'::- ,(-v-ii!i, i--v'- -9- Table 3 Annual Rates of Natural Increase of Itoslem, Christian, and Other lion- Jewish Settled Population (1922-1931) 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 Iloslem 2.49 2.15 2.47 2.18 2.90 Christian 1.91 1.98 2.34 1.81 2.16 Others 2.48 2.15 2.03 2.63 1.84 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 Itoslem 2.10 2.34 2.34 2.81 2.74 Christian 1.84 2.10 1.96 2.21 2.28 Others 2.20 2.38 1.63 2.47 3.35 Source ' Survey of Palestine , Government of Palestine, Government Printer, Palestine, 1946, Vol. Ill, p. 1176. These rates, averaged, for 1922-1925 and 1926-1930, appear in Palestine Blue Book , 1938, Government Printer, Jerusalem, p. 144 and Palestine, Office of Statistics, General T'onthly Bulletin of Current Statistics of Palestine , Jerusalem, January, 1937, p.- 4. Applying these rates to the 1922 population, vje derive for 1931 a population size of 398,498.-'-^ This size would obtain if natural increase were the only source of population growth. The actual 1931 population, derived from the 1931 census data, however, is 463,288 or 64,790 more than can be explained by the natural increase. Since 10,000 represents simply a 15nther estimates of rates of natural increase for the Iloslem population have been made. Palestine Survey of Palestine Survey of and Trans Palestine and Trans - Palestine Jordan "true-rate" Jordan "true-rate" Reports Reports 1922 na 1927 2.85 1.44 1923 2.18 na 1928 2.50 1.32 1924 3.37 na 1929 1.77 1925 2.97 na 1930 2.90 2.12 1926 3.48 1.67 1931 2.02 Source : Report: Palestine and Trans- -Jordan , His Majesty's Survey of Pal( Stationery Office, London : Reports 1922 througl 1 1931. 2Stine, Vol. Ill, Government of Palestine, Government Printer, Palestine, 1946, p. 1177. (continued on p. 10.) iO- }'. ■ -10- transfer of territory from Syria to the subdistrict of Safad, the 54,790 residual is imputed to the Arab immigration from the non-Israel sector of 1 /L Palestine and from the surrounding Arab countries. Arab immigration thus appears to be substantial, as Laski, Jarvis, Simpson and others suggested. The 1922-1931 Arab immigration alone represents 11.8 percent of the total Arab settled population of 1931 and as much as 38.7 percent of the total 1922-1931 Arab population growth. This Immigration size is no less impressive when compared to the 94,162 Jewish immigration during the same period. The Arab immigration accounts for 36.8 percent of total immigration into pre-State Israel. 1^ (continued) The 1931 Arab population that would obtain using the substantially higher estimates of the Reports modifies only slightly our results. The 11.8 percent of Arab immigration to 1931 actual Arab population is reduced to 9.2 percent; the 38.7 percent of total population growth 1922-1931 that is immigration is reduced to 30.2 percent r and the 36.8 percent of total immigration for 1922-1931 that is Arab is reduced to 31.1 percent. This compares with Horowitz and Hinden's estimate of 23 percent for 1922-1936 non-Jewish immigration as a percent of total non-Jewish population growth 1922-1936. Economic Survey of Palestine , Hapoel Hazair Co-operative Press, Tel-Aviv, 1938, p, 22. ■'•"Although no analysis was made of such a residual, it vjas nonetheless recognized in the Royal Commission Report of 1937. The Report states: 'A discrepancy arose at the census of 1931 between the expected and enumerated population due to incomplete recording of births and deaths and of migration, and possibly to faulty enumeration of suspicious and primitive people." Memoranda prepared by the Government of Palestine for the use of the Palestine Royal Commission , Kis Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1937, Colonial no. 133, p. 2 17ibid. , p. 8. ■a ■ ,i ■j- •)■'.■. T:; ^' : '■ : ^ Q ^S'.lfi'i :. I -11- Pre-State Israel and Non-Israel Palestine Iimnisration : A Comparison The demographic character of the pre-State Israel 1922-1931 period contrasts sharply with that of non-Israel Palestine. This is shovm in Table 4. Table 4 Arab Settled Population in pre-State Israel and non-Israel Palestine (1922-1931) Population Pre-State Non-Israel Measure Israel Palestine 1922 actual 321,866 1931 actual 463,288 1931 natural 397,728 1931 immigration 1922-1931 54,790 265,535 334,372 329,695 4,677 The population increase for non-Israel Palestine was 4,677 greater than what would have been obtained through natural increase alone. This number compares with the 54,790 immigration for pre-State Israel. The 1922- 1931 immigration to non-Israel Palestine constitutes only 1.4 percent of its 1931 population size and 6.8 percent of the total increase for the period. The conclusion derived from the comparative analysis is that while immigration was an important contributor to population growth in pre- State Israel, it was of minor consequence in the non-Israel sector of Palestine. Although the contrast between the t^jo sectors of Palestine is clear, still, both sectors record for the period a net inflow of population. This outcome contrasts with the experience of the surrounding Arab countries. ■■■;.';'.f','"! !l !■.■;■■■ .';:ryii -vn^s-Vu- .. ..^ ,. I .-'»-i^';^;, -12- where, for the 1922-1931 period, emigration in some cases of substantial numbers, are reported. Immigration and Economic Development The explanation for these diverging patterns of population growth and immigration can be found in the growing disparities of economic performance in pre-State Israel, non-Israel Palestine, and the Arab States. That migration is highly synchronized with international investment and td.th disparities in the rates of economic growth in different regions 19 has been well established. Although the statistical record of economic 18 Estimates of Syrian and Lebanese Emigration (1921-1939) Origin Gross emigration 1921-28^ Syria 89,407 1922-27^ Syria 46,500 1925-38C Syria 38,302 1925-38C Lebanon 49,586 1920-39*^ Syria 54,000 1923-31^ Syria and Lebanon 97,892 Source : (a) Ilunjitz, D., 'The Agrarian Problem of the Fellahin," Jews and Arabs in Palestine , Ed., Sereni and Ashery, Hechalutz Press, New York, 1936, p. 54- (b) The JevrLsh Plan for Palestine: Memoranda and Statements Presented to the United Mations Special Committee on Palestine , Jerusalem, 1947, p. 115- (c) Granott, A., The Land System in Palestine , Byre and Spottiswoode, London, 1952, p. 47- (d) Helbaoui, Y. , L'Economie Syrienne et les Problemes de son Developpenent , BOSC Freres, Lyon, 1955, p. ; (e) Widmer, Tl. , 'Population,' Economic Organization of Syria, Ed., Himadeh, S. , American Press, Beirut, 1936, p. 16. l^See, for example, Thomas, B. 'Higration and Internationl Investment,' Economics of International Tligration, (con't. on p. 13) vOO, ■ . .. . r V y^<.i -13- activity in the Middle East is severely limited for the period 1922-1931, a consensus of economic reporting does appear to suggest that an Arab migration of 54,790 to pre-State Israel and 4,677 to non-Israel Palestine should be considered as something less than a total surprise. ^ In contrast to the economic paralysis'' that seems to have characterized the Arab economies,^ Palestine had been undergoing substantial economic growth. Capital stock, largely imported, increased by 327 percent while net domestic product roscj at constant prices, by 410 percent. The importance of Jewish-oxmed enterprises, located primarily in pre-State Israel, can hardly be overstated. Their number increased during 1922-1937 from 1,850 to 6,007.23 rioreover, 75 percent of the entire industrial l^Ed., Thomas, B. , IIcHillan, London, 1958- and Kuznets, S., and Dorothy S. Thomas, ''Internal Migration and Economic Growth,'' Selected Studies of Iligration Since World War II , Hilbank Ilemorial Fund, New York, 1958, o. 199. ^^There is no way of separating out the migration from non-Israel Palestine to pre-State Israel although it is clear that such migration did take place. The Survey of Palestine , for example, comments: 'Internal migrations have probably operated in the same way, the coastal plain and other regions of more rapid economic development attracting immigration from the hill regions," Vol. III.; op. cit . , p. 1150. Ily italics. 2lThe term 'economic paralysis' belongs to z. Y. Herschlag, Introduction to the Modern Economic History of the liiddle East , E, J. Brill, Leiden, 1964, p. 231. Herschlag 's is perhaps the best analysis of liiddle East economic development for the pre-World War II period, but here too, the scarcity of statistical evidence is apparent. See his section The Economy of the Mandated Territories — Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and TransJordan — Bet\7een the Tv/o World Wars, pp. 225-275. ^^Szereszewski, Robert, Essays on the Structure of the Jevrish Economy in Palestine and Israel , The Maurice Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel, Jerusalem, 1968, pp. 82. 23Gervasi, F. , op. cit . , p. 104. inrj -14- worlc-force in 1927 was employed by such firms and 60 percent of the force was Arab. 24 The rapid economic development in Palestine was not the exclusive property of the Jewish sector. The extent of Arab participation in the industrialization process is reflected in the grovjth, from 1918-1928, of 1,373 new Arab-ovmed enterprises. ^^ Althouf^h clearly of a smaller scale than the Jewish enterprise, these nonetheless represented over 60 percent of the total enterprises established during the 1918-1928 period. ^6 Economic conditions in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Trans-Jordan appear to have been substantially different. In Syria, for example, the growth of new industry and the conversion of handicraft production to mechanization had been insufficient to absorb the surplus labor generated by the decline in overall industrial and handicraft production. 27 in the agricultural sector, progress appeared to have been equally unattractive. The persistence of agricultural bacla-jardness is attributed to the continuation of primitive technology, excessive peasant indebtedness, climatic conditions, and the op skewed distribution of land holdings. 2^Grunwald, K. , "The Industrialization of the Near East," Bulletin of the Palestine Economic Society , February, 1934, Volume 6, Number 3, pp. 73-79. ^^Horowitz, D., and Ilindeii, R. , op. cit . , p. 208. ^^Himadehj S., 'Industry,'' Economic Organization of Palestine , Ed., Himadeh, S., American Press, Beirut, 1938, p. 230. 2'Uimadeh, S. , Industry," Economic Organization of Syria , Ed., Himadeh, S. , American Press, Beirut, 1936, p. 172. 28ibid. , p. 115. •!■,.■,!» J^-i: -15- Similar descriptions are offered for Iraq^" and TransJordaii; the latter described as '^a parasite existing on the permanent subsidy of Britain and the civil administration of Palestine" \7ith no attempts being 30 made toward industrialization of the modernization of agriculture. Industrial activity in Egypt appeared to have been hardly more successful. Capital in corporate enterprise increased by two percent annually between 1920-1930 and although investm.ent in agriculture did increase, per capita 31 agricultural output actually declined. Although comparative statistics for the Tliddle East for 1922-1931 is virtually impossible to construct because of limited comparable data, some regional estimates for 1932-1936 can serve at least as an indicator of comparative economic performance for the few preceding years. Such a comparison is offered in Tables 5 and 6 . The economic portrait shown in Tables 5 and 6 seem clear enough. Consumption of foodstuffs in Palestine among Arabs was 143 percent of the Egyptian, 121 percent of the Syrian, and 166 percent of the Iraqi consump- tion. ITet agricultural productivity was 207 percent of both the Egyptian and Trans Jordanian, 1^1 percent of the Syrian and 200 percent of the Iraqi. ^^ Progress of Iraq 1920-1931 t Special Report, Colonial no. 53, His llajesty's Stationery Office, London, 1931, pp. 205-217, 235-240. See also. Young, E. 11., Reports on E c onomic Conditions and Policy and Loan Policy , Government Press, June 1930, Baghdad, p. 4. Young, lamenting the lack of statistical data, 'surmises ' a process of slow accumulation of vjealth. ^^Herschlag, Z. Y. , op_. cit . , p. 237. ■^■'■0 ' Brien , P . , The Revolution in Egypt's Economic System , Oxford University Press, 1966, p. 210. I CO H •H > •H •P O 3 •a o >j 4J W ■a o o li. o c o i CO C o u e o c M u •H C CO U G^ CM CI CTi 4J o >M o O iH QJ e II •H OJ ;^ a ^-1 •H Q) 4J s w •H Q) x: i-l o to ja (X, vo r^ o to o c o I CNJ CO CO r-i 3 O CO o iH CM iH CO O c o CO > u 4-1 (U OJ •H c U > u 3 •H CO w •W (U .H O 3 3 -l M E tc a u CO •U Qi G -i C ^*A 0) O Pj o <4-l o 43 r-l CO •H t-( > CO ■U r-H 0) cn •H bO 3 CO CO X) Xl s C M vO CO CJs t3 r-l M sr 00 ON in 0-) C-. O O CO O • • • CO • >>D CJ^ 00 (3 -i c O -H CO _ "-O -U J3 ■u cd to CO CO D. -H cr C GJ >j >. M to CO rH < CO >, M J^ to W W M H Ph O O c<3 O 0) o V4 3 H 60 ' CO 0) O oo < cr\ x: x: o w C OJ CO U CO H T) " O ■zi « 3 -H CO l)-l P< 0) C (0 CO 60 -H O OJ -H > 4J CO CO QJ J3 CO •W Pj tl <4-l -( QJ CTj U U X) O C U-l CO oo 0) (U 43 O 4J U O > I .-I 01 H O Ph c •H 4-t CO (U o •H e o c o O o c X) CD XI tu c o m >-i CO O JJ p; X3 oj x; to c CO CO O N 3 -H a £ o x> o XJ tH XJ 3 -H •> CM : W " QJ N rH ■W X3 •H X> > X3 •H -H ^ > < to ^° (U /-^ H tJ CO ^^ o\ U iH QJ I CO in CO OJ X) o o OJ X) to a _ QJ 00X3 QJ > •H CO I-l Q) D O I o u u •r\ CO N T I-l QJ O & CO to QJ rH CO p. CO U M U O UH 00 OO I = in •> CO B rH o c o • o CO w rH CL to c - O 00 •H <• t>OCT> Q) iH c vT ■H QJ to QJ CO > CO o -17- Table 6 Average Per Capita Government Expenditure 1929 (in Palest ;ine ^lils) Item Palestine Iraq Syria Trans Jordan General Adm. Army and Police Total Unproductive 608 610 1290 377 525 902 537 460 997 400 410 810 Education Health Economy Survey Public Works Total Productive 150 110 80 80 330 750 80 70 115 14 142 421 80 40 30 63 283 496 70 40 57 30 110 307 Source: Grunwald, K. , The Government Finances of the llandated Territories in the Near East, Palestine Economic Society, Hay 1932, p. 100 r Since a capital goods industry was virtually non-existent in the Iliddle East, the value of machine imports indicates, to some degree, the rate of increase in industrialization and mechanization of agriculture. Syrian, Egyptian and Iraqi agricultural machinery imports v/ere 23, 10 and 10 percent of the Palestine imports; industrial machinery imports were 17, 16 and 16 percent. Disparities between Palestine and the Arab States appear also in the investm.ent outlays in the public sector. On almost every budget item, and particularly on items of industrial and social overhead capital, per capita expenditures in Palestine were higher than in any of the Arab States. Productive expenditures were, in 1929, for Palestine, 151 percent of the Syrian, 178 percent of the Iraqi and 244 percent of the Trans Jordanian expenditures. In terms of government revenues, Palestine's per capita tax was 156 percent of , c ■ .1 ) ;0 :>M ! f.i ,- V.-*-;- •.;V '■.!!;: '; m; ;i-.v;..--;:;;i 1 ,:! w M ,;;.u,:.^- ••"■ ■'. -18- Syrla's, 167 percent of Iraq's and 295 percent of TransJordan's. While the comparative evidence offered above is admittedly incomplete, the simple observation that significant disparities in economic activity betr/een Palestine and the Arab States is clearly not without substance. Conclusions : Arab immigration into Palestine, and specifically into pre-State Israel during the census period 1922-1931 reflects, to some degree, the different levels of economic activity within Palestine and between it and the contiguous Arab States. Arab immigration accounted for 38.7 percent of the total increase in Arab settled population in pre-State Israel, and constituted 11.8 percent of its 1931 population. Although less numerically than the Jewish immigration during the period, the significance of Arab immigration is nonetheless emphasized by its com- parison with the Je\d.sh population inflov;. Arab immigration composed 36.8 percent of the total immigration into pre-State Israel. The situation in non-Israel Palestine was somewhat different. There, Arab migration v;as positive, but inconsequential. ^•^Grunxjald , K. , The Government Finances of the Mandated Territories in the Near East , Palestine Economic Society, Hay 1932, Volume 6, Number 1, p. 97.