Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai Politics Talk

The report of Sir John Hope Simpson (the "Hope Simpson" report") was issued following the widespread Palestinian riots of 1929. Though the riots were kindled by agitation about supposed Zionist designs of the Al-Aqsa commission, the Shaw Commission, following the urgent lobbying the Mufti, Haj Amin El Husseini, who had instigated the riots, indicated that the riots were due to immigration and land purchases. The British authorities conducted an investigation into the possibilities for future immigration to and settlement of Palestine. The investigation was headed by Sir John Hope Simpson.

The report claimed that there was not enough land to support continued immigration. According to the report, Arab farmers were suffering from severe economic difficulties, because there was not sufficient arable land reserves per farmer. The calculations assumed that there could be no irrigation, and no reclamation of land. The report explained the Turkish laws regarding land ownership, which had left most land in the hands of the government. Therefore, there was little land left for Zionist purchase according to their calculations.

The report praised the Hadassah medical organization and had some good words for Israeli kibbutzim:

The report indicated that the Jewish policy of hiring only Jews was responsible for the deplorable conditions in which the Arabs found themselves and for widespread unemployment. In fact, there had been considerable Arab population increase since 1917, and a considerable rise in standard of living. The statistics presented in the report indicate less than 4,000 unemployed in a population of over a million. Since there had been no more than 25,000 Jewish immigrants under the mandate, bringing considerable capital investment, it is difficult to see how this immigration could have been the source of Arab economic woes. Moreover, Palestine had become a country of net immigration for Arabs as well as Jews. Despite the supposedly poor conditions, Arabs were moving into Palestine, rather than out of it.

Quite correctly, the report surmised that the percentage of arable land in Palestine had been greatly overestimated and that not more than a third would be cultivable. The report noted significant illegal immigration of Arabs from Syria and Transjordan, as well as importation of Egyptian labor to fill employment needs. Nonetheless, it blamed unemployment on Zionist settlement and labor policies.

Simpson's logic dictated that Palestine was effectively a "closed box," a Malthusian nightmare in which it was inevitable that population would forever exceed the demand for land, and in which everyone must remain engaged in agriculture, as though the industrial revolution must stop outside Europe and the US.

Interestingly, Hope Simpson was intent on applying his logic consistently. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that migration of Arab peasants or "transfer" was not only permissible, but apparently desirable, in order to provide them with sufficient land to settle the ever increasing demand. He wrote:

In 1922, there were 22,000 dunams of Arab land producing citrus crops. In 1940, there were 140,000 dunams of Arab citrus land, mostly producing crop for export in Palestine. In 1931 Arabs had 332,000 dunams of olive groves and apple orchards. By 1942 they had 832,000 dunams under cultivation.