British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 301

CHAPTER VIII.

163. From time to time various issues relating to the rights and wrongs of the parties have been before the courts. In 1931 the Jewish National Fund brought a case in the courts against five of the principal cultivators and obtained a judgment to the effect that rent at the rate of 150 mils per dunum should be paid. The Arabs on their part sought to establish that their option to purchase was still valid or, in the alternative, that they possessed rights under the Cultivators (Protection) Ordinance : they denied that rent was due from them since water had not been supplied, and they counter-claimed for damages for this failure to supply. The Fund's claim for rent since 1927 and interest thereon amounted to some £P.10,000 at the end of 1945.

164. The Ma 'Jul Arabs also claimed grazing rights over an area of 5,000 dunums of rocky land which lies to the west of the village and on part of which the King George Jubilee Forest had been established by the Jewish National Fund. The Arab el Mazareeb, a tribe of herdsmen, also claimed grazing rights and the right to pitch tents in the same area. The case came in due course on appeal before the Supreme Court, who on 15th February, 1940 found in favour of the Arabs in respect of grazing only. The Jewish National Fund was granted leave to appeal to the Privy Council; on 24th June, 1943, the latter confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court.

165. In 1937 the late Mr. Andrews, Development Officer, with the consent of Government, attempted to negotiate a settlement between the parties. The arrangement at which he aimed was that the Fund should make over to Government the ownership of an area of land in Ma'lul village, part suitable for cultivation and part suitable for grazing, sufficient for the needs of the villagers. Government would then lease this land to the villagers. In exchange for the land, Government would make over to the Fund the ownership of an area of State Domain of equivalent value in the south of Beisan. Provisional agreement on this has is was reached between the parties, but before any action was taken on it the report of the Royal Commission was published (June 1937). Under the Commission's tentative proposals of partition, the land in Beisan fell within the Arab area; Government therefore directed that the negotiations initiated by Mr. Andrews should be suspended. In October, 1938, following the receipt of the report of the Partition Commission, the proposals for partition of the country were dropped by His Majesty's Government; they therefore no longer constituted a barrier to negotiation; but the restrictions

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