Sursock family: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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In 1872, the Ottoman Government sold Marj ibn Amir ([[Esdraelon]] Valley) to the Sursock family of Beirut. The Zionists began to show interest in buying the Jezreel Valley in 1891, but the [[Palestine Land Development Company]] (PLDC), a Zionist land purchasing agency, made its first purchases in 1910. In 1897, [[Theodor Herzl]] writes about the Sursock family in his diary, noting the onset of negotiations with the Jewish Colonisation Organization for the purchase of 97 villages in Palestine.<ref>''The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl,'' ed. Raphael Patai, Herzl Press and Thomas Yoseloff, New York-London, vol.2, p.519.</ref>

In ancient times Esdraelon was the granary, and regarded as the most fertile tract of Palestine. The Sursocks were absentee landlords in the vast Marj Ibn `Amer (Jezreel Valley) in Northern Palestine. The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 by funding from the Baron to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Glass |first1=Joseph |title=From New Zion to Old Zion. American Jewish Immigration and Settlement in Palestine, 1917-1939. |publisher=Wayne State University Press}}</ref> The PLDC acquired land for the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Official purchasing organizations such as the Palestine Land Development Company focused on consummating the transfer of some 65,000 dunams of land in the Jezreel Valley owned by the Sursocks. On 18 December 1918, the PDLC concluded an agreement with Nagib and Albert Sursock for the purchase of 71,356 dunams in the Jezreel Valley, including [[Tel Adashim]]. The Ottomans tried to limit mass land acquisition and immigration, but had their hands tied by European pressure and also corruption and greed of officials and large landowners. The sale of land in Marj ibn Amer is a noted case.<ref name=Alfred>{{cite web |title= H.B. Bustros and Sursock-Cochrane Mausoleum, Mar Mitr Cemetery |date= 7 May 2010 |via= [https://www.flickr.com/people/fouadgm/ Dr. Fouad Gehad Marei], Flickr blog |url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/fouadgm/5021385867 |access-date= 27 February 2021}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2021}}<ref>{{cite web |title= Mausoleum of the Sursock-Cochrane and Bustros families. |date= 15 December 2011 |via= blog.dnevnik.hr |url= https://blog.dnevnik.hr/american-recovery-and-investme/2011/12/1629708693/become-rich-by-investing-become-rich.html?page=blog&id=1629708693&subpage=0&subdomain=american-recovery-and-investme |access-date= 27 February 2021}}{{better source needed| date= February 2021}}</ref> Hankin of the [[Jewish National Fund|KKL]] transacted the final settlement of purchase in 1921. [[Yehoshua Hankin|Hankin]] originally worked for the PLDC and then became the main land speculator for both agencies.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://www.1stlebanon.net/lebanon-news/news.php?idactu=825&debut=0 Beirut how you've changed ... or have you?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Historical UK Inflation Rates Calculator|url=http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/|website=stephenmorley.org}}</ref> The buyers demanded the existing natives be relocated and as a result, the Arab tenant farmers were evicted, with some receiving compensation the buyers were not required by law to pay.<ref>[https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/E3ED8720F8707C9385256D19004F057C Hope Simpson Report]</ref> Because the villagers paid [[tithe]]s to the Sursock family in [[Beirut]] for the right to work the agricultural lands in the villages, they were deemed tenant farmers by the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate]] authorities in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and the right of the Sursock family to sell the land to the JNF was upheld by the authorities.

==References==