Ottoman Land and Tax Reforms, 1858 and 1867

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In 1867,  the second Ottoman land and tax reform measure was passed (the first came in 1858).  These reforms changed the pattern of land ownership in Palestine (that is to say well in advance of Zionism: extensive Jewish investment and colonization in Palestine did not begin until after 1882).   Many Palestinian farmers who had the opportunity and the means to buy land under the reforms chose not to out of fear of landing on the tax rolls and of becoming subject to military conscription. So, many Christians moved in to buy up the land instead. Peasants continued to farm the land but were willing to let ownership pass into the hands of big landowners. Thus occurred a gap or break between peasants and the lands they farmed. Most of the landowners were Palestinian notables or Christians from coastal regions. Titles and deeds, then, ended up in the hands of a relatively small number of owners while the peasants continued to assume they had rights to live on the lands and cultivate them. Since many of the landowners lived in Beirut, subsequent sales of lands to Jewish immigrants were less visible to those who were actually living on them.  Journalistic opposition to Zionist colonization first emerged among Palestinian Christians (not Muslims) before World War I. (Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict, Third Edition (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996), 21-22, 32-35). 

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