Tobacco cultivation and production in twentieth-century Palestine/Israel
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Tobacco cultivation began in Palestine in the late nineteenth century and lasted until the late 1980s. It existed under repeated monopolizations of the market: First by the Ottoman Regie company; then by the British American Tobacco Co. during the British Mandate; and finally, by Dubek Co. in Israel. Dubek's hold on cigarette production in Israel, cemented in 1971, marked the beginning of the end of Palestinian tobacco cultivation in Israel. Palestinian cigarette production, on the other hand, disappeared earlier, in 1966. That was the year in which the Arab Cigarette & Tombac Co., the only factory which survived the Nakba [Ar. Catastrophe] of 1948, finally closed. Tobacco was the main cash crop fellahin [peasants] could grow in the hilly hinterlands. Their family households, and sometimes entire villages, depended on it for an inflow of cash. Cash was desperately needed in a time of monetization and colonial development, which rarely benefitted the agrarian population. Colonial officers were prejudiced toward fellahin and deemed them incapable of adequately growing or marketing their tobacco. However, as I demonstrate using oral history interviews, and state and local archives in Israel, Turkey, and Britain, they were highly savvy about the methods of cultivation, the market, and the industry. Through the Arab Cigarette & Tombac Co., established in Nazareth in 1933 as a nationalist economic Palestinian venture, fellahin and Bedouin bought shares and took part in the entire production cycle of cigarettes. They also protested the three regimes' ban on the independent sale of tobacco, and while resisting the label "smuggling, " proceeded to sell their crop informally, risking fines and imprisonment. They continuously called for a free market, agricultural instruction, and export markets. As colonial policies deprived them of their lands and access to water and turned them into a minority in their country, the fellahin who remained and became citizens slowly gave up and pursued work outside agriculture. The history of tobacco in Palestine ultimately exemplifies some of the main processes through which Palestinians became depeasantized and excluded from the agrarian economy, culture, and landscape.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2023; ©2023 |
| Publication date | 2023; 2023 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Fahoum, Basma |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Barakat, Nora Elizabeth |
| Degree supervisor | Beinin, Joel, 1948- |
| Thesis advisor | Barakat, Nora Elizabeth |
| Thesis advisor | Beinin, Joel, 1948- |
| Thesis advisor | Seikaly, Sherene, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Yaycioglu, Ali |
| Degree committee member | Seikaly, Sherene, 1971- |
| Degree committee member | Yaycioglu, Ali |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Humanities and Sciences |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of History |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Basma Fahoum. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of History. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2023. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/sg466rg8219 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2023 by Basma Fahoum
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...