The Cadastral Mapping of Palestine, 1858-1928

Abstract

The development of the cadastral system and land mapping of Palestine is a domestic issue of land administration whose early development took place primarily in Europe. Twentieth-century Palestine saw the transition from land registration, without proper reference of location, to statutory maps which became indispensable for land settlement and registration. This paper considers the introduction of cadastral mapping in Palestine in the years 1858-1928, and discusses the relative contribution of the Ottomans (1858-1914), the British Mandate authorities (1920-1928) and Christian and Jewish settlers (1869-1928), to the establishment of modern Land Books based on statutory maps. The British administration opened up a new era in which cadastral plans satisfied the demand for quality mapping and an advanced system of land registration. However, by 1948, the Mandatory Government of Palestine had completed the land settlement of only about five million metric dunams, which representjust 20 per cent of the 26 300 square kilometres of Palestine's total land area. This settled area is almost identical to the boundaries of the northern part of the State of Israel recognized by the United Nations in 1947. The fact that land settlement was not completed under the cadastral project, has remained ever since the focus of disputes over land ownership in areas of conflict between the Israeli Government, Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs.