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Negotiations were long and difficult, particularly as it was desired that the institution should serve the interests of agriculture generally.1
The volume of archival material concerning the establishment of the Agricultural Mortgage Company in Palestine is quite remarkable due to the issue being directly affected by the Arab-Jewish conflict as reflected in the economy: the relative roles played by the British, Arabs and Jews on and off the company's board; and the land problem because the mortgage laws presented a further threat to Arab tenant-farmers. In setting up the company, the Colonial Office had to juggle all the key interests and ensure that the bank's main aim - agricultural development - was not lost sight of. The complex and drawn out negotiations leading up to the establishment of the bank in 1935 will be analysed here, and the role the bank had in providing much-needed credit for agricultural development will be assessed.
The establishment of an agricultural mortgage bank in Palestine was the outcome of the British Mandatory Government's realization that there was a lack of long-term credit for agricultural development. Those farmers seeking loans had recourse either to the moneylenders who charged usurious rates, or to commercial banks which were only willing to risk short-term loans. The problem mostly affected the Arab population as the Jews could obtain intermediate and long-term agricultural credit from a variety of sources, including Nir Company,2 the Farmers' Bank, the Workers' Bank and the Central Bank of Co-operative Institutions (the latter, established by the Jewish Labour Federation, the Histadrut, especially granted long-term loans to agricultural settlers).
In 1898, the Ottoman Government passed a law establishing the Ottoman Agricultural Bank which supplied seasonal credit on mortgage loans and some long-term loans. The capital from that bank came partly from assets and accrued interests of the Caisses d'Utilit6 Publique, which was succeeded by the Agricultural Bank, and partly from an additional 10 per cent (reduced to 1/20 in 1905)3 on the tithe which was to be payable until the bank's capital reached the sum of 10 million Turkish Pounds.4
The British Military and Civilian administrations continued collecting an additional sum of 1 1/2 per cent on the tithe charged for the Agricultural Bank, but the proceeds were credited to the...