Fariha’s Reviews > Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire > Status Update
Fariha
is on page 75 of 300
The majority of these crops were exported—for example, the cotton&sesame went to France, & the wheat to Italy.There was a growing demand for citrus trees in the early twentieth century, particularly from Jaffa, while Gaza was very famous for exporting barley.These records counter the myth,intentionally spread by Palestine’s detractors, that the country’s flourishing agriculture owed to the early Jewish colonists/
— Aug 10, 2026 09:48AM
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Fariha’s Previous Updates
Fariha
is on page 83 of 300
About 90 percent of the rebels were peasants, and for the whole three-year span of the Great Revolt, the countryside continued to play a significant role as political challenger of the status quo. Peasants organized and funded the revolt and protected the rebels. Between 1937 and 1939, the local leadership was in charge of all activism while the national leadership was in exile, based in Damascus.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:29AM
Fariha
is on page 83 of 300
As a consequence of the strike, the British targeted the organizing cadre, not the upper-class national leadership. The British were pleased with the relatively mild response of the revolution’s national leadership. Even its decision to end the general strike was made to protect merchants’ and citrus exporters’ profits.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:28AM
Fariha
is on page 83 of 300
During the revolt, national committees were organized to coordinate a general strike, and in May 1936, a conference was held involving all the rural national committees. These committees called for adopting a platform with pro-peasant agendas, such as abolishing the unfair agricultural taxation system and the immediate cessation of land sales,
— Aug 10, 2026 10:27AM
Fariha
is on page 82 of 300
The upper-class Palestinians initially united with the oppressed classes—consisting of workers and peasants—to maintain their leadership position against the national threat of Zionism. Yet, this unity required notables to enact structural changes demanded by the oppressed classes that would jeopardize the notables’ remaining power.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:18AM
Fariha
is on page 82 of 300
Approximately half of the lands purchased by Zionist funds were sold by absentee landlords, with residing landlords selling an additional 25 percent, while individual peasants sold less than 10 percent of lands. The latter were systematically pushed to sell because of British policies and taxes that typically favored the Jewish population and wealthy Palestinians.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:17AM
Fariha
is on page 82 of 300
In one example, the bourgeois Lebanese Sursock family, who were absentee landlords, sold their lands in Marj Ibn Amer to the Jewish National Fund, evicting 8,730 Palestinian peasants in the process.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:17AM
Fariha
is on page 81 of 300
It is important to note that Palestinian peasants were not a homogenous group, and class privilege was instrumental in shaping their connection to the land. For example, small peasants demonstrated great sacrifice for the national cause by selling their lands to arm the struggle.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:12AM
Fariha
is on page 81 of 300
In addition, Britain’s exorbitant taxes and the avarice of Palestinian notables left “some 30 percent of all Palestinian villagers landless.”
— Aug 10, 2026 10:10AM
Fariha
is on page 81 of 300
Zionist expansion, facilitated by British imperialism, to establish Israeli settlement early in the twentieth century uprooted many Palestinian peasant sharecroppers who cultivated the lands that Jewish settlers purchased or otherwise obtained.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:09AM
Fariha
is on page 80 of 300
Kayyali describes Palestinian farmers before 1948 as “more prone to action and revolt entailing self-sacrifice than other groups of society.” Palestinian peasants used various tactics, including soft resistance against the inequities of the capitalist system, protesting, raiding Israeli colonial settlements in the late nineteenth century, and the mobilization of the 1936–39 rebellion.
— Aug 10, 2026 10:07AM