The Great Demography Debate

Many of you familiar with the various debates over Zionism, and "Palestine" during the late 19th and early 20th century, have probably come across the "empty land" agument. To make a long story short (and it's a VERY long, complicated issue), pro-Zionists and pro-Palestinians argue whether or not the area was sparsely or densely populated from the advent of Zionist settlement onward. By extension, they also debate what caused the great increase in the Arab population, especially during the Mandate, when it more than doubled itself in 30 years. Some of the pro-Zionists will argue that there was substantial immigration into the country during the 19th and 20th century, while pro-Palestinians will insist that the country was densely populated almost solely by locals, and grew only by natural increase.

The current consensus by top Israeli scholars is that while the country was not empty, it WAS sparsely populated during the '70s and '80s of the 19th century[1]. Moreover, this population was not evenly distributed - the main concentrations of settlement were in the hill country and nearby ports, while many of the valleys and lower areas (such as the Sharon) were relatively spare in people[2]. Moreover, while it is generally agreed that immigration played only a small part in the overall increase in the Arab population in the country, at least since the 1870s onward, there are now studies that show that immigration constituted as much as 20-25% in the population increase in areas along the coastline, i.e. the main areas of Zionist settlement.

Until now, only Prof. Moshe Brawer's study[3] (and to some extent Prof. Arnon Soffer's presentation in a 1986 conference on demography) could serve as evidence for this phenomenon. Now, in the most recent issue of Cathedra, the leading Land of Israel Studies journal, we have another study on the Arab population growth in the Sharon area, which also argues for such a proportion of immigrants in that area. It will be interesting to see further study done on this issue.

That's all for now, folks. AIWAC

[1] See for instance, Yehoshua Ben-Aryeh's articles in various issues in Cathedra on the subject.

[2] David Grossman, Ha-Uchlusiyah Ha-Aravit Ve-haMa'aHaz Hayehudi (The Arab population and the Jewish Foothold) (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Magness Press 20o4.

[3] Moshe Brawer, Immigration as a factor in the increase of the Arab village in Palestine (Hebrew), Merhavim 2 (1975), p. 72-81.