Governing property, making the modern state - PSI424

composed of the Haddad, Da’ud, ‘Abdul-Hadi, Khatib, Shuha, now belonged to
different subsections of the Shatnawi half.
The principle of allotment in 1933 was similar to that in the Gharaiba half in
1895, equalizing variations in the quality of soil by distributing plots in a holding
into a number of different fields, or what we have called synchronic equalization.
But, as compared with 1895, each subdivision of landholders was now allotted
several fields, as shown on the map. The net result of the allotment was that each
landholder had between five and nine plots in different parts of the village that
varied in quality but together made up a holding commensurate with its share
in comparison with other holdings.
It would be interesting to know how the phrase khalit wa-sharik was understood
in 1933. As far as the layout of the land was concerned, the periodic
reallotment of holdings within a band of co-partners, which was its concrete
expression, was no longer allowed. The form of allotment in 1933 nevertheless
retained a spirit of equalization. In 1948 land would again be redistributed, this
time into consolidated holdings commercially more viable and, in the new frame
of mechanized agriculture, more efficient.
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Two plains villages