ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on agricultural density and its influence on the availability of land for the Palestinian peasants. It examines the agricultural density of the Arab farmers and assesses the extent to which it deviated from the level required for obtaining minimal subsistence conditions. Despite the traditional agriculture that characterized the Arab peasants, land uses and their practices varied over space and time. The weaknesses in their money-based economic model raised questions about the validity of their estimate of the Palestinian carrying capacity. A model for estimating carrying capacity based on energy was offered by Bayliss-Smith. Significantly during the Mandate era, the proportion of government income realized from the taxation of agriculture was inconsequential. The chapter also examines a case where there was a series of natural disasters over several consecutive years. It also focuses on the agrarian factors and other socio-economic aspects of the revolt that are less well known than the nationalistic ones.
