PALESTINE.

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Falastīn. Taqrīr 'an al-hijrah wa-mashārī'a al-iskān wa-l-'eimrān. First Arabic edition of Sir John Hope Simpson's groundbreaking report, with only two other copies traced, at the American University of Beirut and the National Library of Israel. It was published in the same year as the English edition.After a successful career as a diplomat and politician, Simpson (1868-1961) was sent to the British Mandate of Palestine subsequent to the 1929 riots, to chair a British commission addressing Jewish land settlement and Zionist policies. The report discusses Palestine's natural conformation and climate, the impact of Jewish land ownership on the economy, and the resulting widespread unemployment among the Arab population, which was a cause of unrest. It also addresses demographic changes and public health services, including anti-malaria prophylaxis, as well as irrigation projects, the types of land and its ownership present in Palestine, and legislation concerning Bedouin land rights. A pivotal observation is the economic imbalance between the Jewish settlers and the Arab population.The report concludes that "there is at the present time and with the present methods of Arab cultivation no margin of land available for agricultural settlement", and that "it is impossible to give... a reliable estimate of the number of families who could be accommodated in Palestine, if the whole country were adequately developed".

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