British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 409

CHAPTER X.
bouches on to the Ghor . Further south, on the land commanded by the 'Auja and Jericho springs, bananas, vegetables and some other fruits are grown.

66. The Beersheba desert. This is the largest stretch of plain land in the country and includes the area called the Negeb. The soil is of loess (wind-blown) formation and mostly of good quality, but cultivation is limited by the low rainfall, which rarely exceeds 200 mm. a year and may be almost nothing. Barley is the principal crop, with some wheat, durra and water melons. If suitable underground water supplies were found, very large areas could be placed under irrigation but, without irrigation, no substantial development is possible.

(c) CULTIVABLE LAND.

67. The Royal Commission discussed at some length (Report, chapter IX, paragraphs 42-95) the difficulty of defining the meaning of "cultivable" for the purpose of making an estimate of the 'cultivable' area. The table below is a list of figures, computed from maps, of the approximate area in the "plains" of Palestine and the west side of the Jordan valley which might be cultivated, if water were available and could be got on to the land at a not too extravagant cost. Lands at present cultivated either with or without irrigation are, of course, not excluded from these figures.

Dunums

(to the nearest 10,000 dunums)

I. Coastal plain

Coastal plain south of Carmel range

2,400,000 310,000 880,000

Acre plain

Plain of Esdraelon

Huleh plain above and below the level of the

springs

II. lnland plains. Valley of Jezreel Upper Bira lands

Sahl el Battauf and adjacent lands Sahl el Arraba

Marj es Sanur

III. Jordan valley

Central Jordan valley including the Migdal, Hittim, Rima, Samakh and Beisan lands Lower Jordan valley including Wadi Fari'a, Fasayil and Upper 'Auja

Total in Palestine excluding the hills and the Beersheba administrative sub-

district. 4,200,000

NOTE: The Jewish Agency figure mentioned by the Royal Commission is 318761650 dunums; this may have excluded some of the mountain valleys such as the Batouf Sanur, etc.

240,000

160,000 80,000 70,000 S0,000 20,000

280,000

230,000

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