The Development of Capitalism in Palestine: The Expropriation of the Palestinian Direct Producers

The main tendency of the literature on Palestinian society under British colonialism has been to treat the developing European (Jewish) capitalist mode of production' in separation from the original predominantly pre-capitalist2 forms of production.3 Within this tendency, two main arguments have been advanced: the first claims that each sector develops separately and that the capitalist sector does not exploit the pre-capitalist one. The other argument claims that capitalism in Palestine was an advancing force which developed the country as a whole and, in particular, benefited the pre-capitalist sector by providing its originally unemployed masses with more job opportunities. Simha Flapan, who represents the first trend within this tendency, has argued that within Palestinian society there exist two separate national economies: a traditional and backward Palestinian economy, and a Jewish capitalist with a rapid rate of growth. According to him, each economy developed independently. Flapan argues that in order to understand the process which took place under British colonialism, one