ABSTRACT
The years 1926 to 1929 were a period of economic depression for the Jews in Palestine and for the Zionist movement in general. A large aliya began to stream in to Palestine from Germany and Poland. A real solution was offered to Jews at a time when the Nazis were gaining power. The Jews constituted thirty per cent of the total population of Palestine. The Jews of Germany sought asylum in Palestine from Nazi rale. Jews had bought 25,418 dunam of land in the Beit-Shean Valley, 90% of which was owned by the Jewish National Fund. The Arab National Company of Nablus was one of the beneficiaries of the Government's generous land grants in the Beit-Shean Valley. In fact territorial continuity of settlement was not achieved. Between the hill lands of Eastern Galilee and the block of kibbutzim – Hanita, Matzuba, and Eilon – in Western Galilee lay a large area clear of Jewish settlement.
