11 avril 2013, 00:12
Vous imaginez bien que je ne suis pas tombé sur ce prénom par hasard. J’ai reçu l’information que je devais en chercher la signification juste après une discussion animée au sujet du sort du territoire israel/Palestine. J’avais démontré que l’état sioniste est la première bête de l’Apocalypse selon une révélation qu’une amie m’avait transmise à ses dépends (analogie avec Ferrari), donc la destruction de l’état était demandée par Dieu lui-même. Ensuite, par la réflexion, la logique m’a amené à ne pas voir d’autre alternative que de n’envisager qu’un seul pays où tout le monde pourrait vivre en harmonie. Un pays divisé ne peut représenter un symbole de sainteté, cela n’a pas beaucoup de sens. Toutefois, il convient aussi de considérer les populations, ces gens ne sont pas des pions que l’on peut placer au gré des désirs des puissants, aussi il pourrait apparaitre comme une idée sage de laisser au peuple le soin de décider par eux-mêmes. Une solution démocratique somme toute.
Néanmoins, il ne faut pas perdre de vue une chose essentielle: la signification première du mot Israël. Nous ne sommes pas en train de parler du Tadjikistan, dont le suffixe stan signifie que le pays appartient à une région du monde en particulier. Nous sommes bien en train de parler du nom d’un état qui subordonne l’immigration dans son pays à l’appartenance à une confession et qui contient le mot El, qui est un des noms de Dieu au même titre qu’Elohim ou Allah. Remettons un peu les pieds sur terre, si je puis m’exprimer ainsi, il n’appartient à personne sur terre de décider de la création d’un état représentant Dieu sans son accord. Soyons logique, soit l’état est laïc et il ne fait aucune distinction entre les hommes, soit il est demandé d’être croyant et dans ce cas c’est la volonté divine qui prime. Nous voyons bien que nous tournons en rond et que nous sommes face à une contradiction de taille.Aussi il convient de trancher. Cette situation n’a que trop duré.
La réponse Mireille m’a été envoyée, je vous la remet et ensuite je vous l’explique.
Mirèio (Mirèlha en graphie classique, Mireille en français), composée en 1859, est une œuvre de l’écrivain Frédéric Mistral, en langue d’oc provençale.
Au pays des Baux, en Provence, Mireille (Mirèio), fille de riches paysans et Vincent (Vincènt), jeune vannier modeste, s’éprennent l’un de l’autre. Amour impossible : les parents de la jeune fille, furieux de son choix, alors qu’elle éconduit de beaux partis, refusent la mésalliance. Mireille, désespérée, s’enfuit de chez elle. Sous le soleil d’été, elle traverse la Camargue, dans le but d’aller aux Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer implorer les saintes d’infléchir la décision de ses parents.
Sa course est pénible : accablée de chaleur, elle est frappée d’insolation. Quand elle arrive au terme de sa route, les saintes lui apparaissent, lui racontent leur propre épopée et lui font entrevoir le bonheur de l’autre monde. Au milieu des siens qui, éplorés, la retrouvent, elle se laisse doucement glisser dans la mort, confiante et sereine.
Voilà pour l’histoire.
Tout d’abord la date, 1859. Cette date fait référence aux origines de la scission réelle entre juifs et musulmans sur le territoire de la Palestine et à la pénétration des premiers colons (les élites). Je joins plusieurs textes qui parlent de ceci.
Explication de 2013: L’explication est simple: Mireille représente l’état d’israel et Vincent la Palestine. Les parents (Dieu) ne veulent pas de cette union. Mireille va vers les saintes Maries (la famille du Messie émigrée en France) pour demander de l’aide. Il est question du commencement du nouveau monde et Mireille meurt.
Le mot mésalliance est utilisé, mot à forte connotation dans le contexte qui nous préoccupe.
Note
Quelques jours avant Noël 2012, j’ai mis le texte de Mireille par Mistral sur mon fb en prenant soin de mentionner la date de 1859. J’avais, bien entendu, mis la main sur la page qui traite de la loi sur les terres Ottomanes, mais je n’avais pas mis le lien, je souhaitais alors susciter l’intérêt chez mes lecteurs et les mener à faire une recherche par eux-mêmes. Et puis aussi, il me paraissait opportun d’étaler le dévoilement de ce sujet étant donné son importance. Quel ne fut pas mon étonnement, lorsque quelques jours plus tard, souhaitant mettre en lien la page, je découvrais qu’elle n’était plus en ligne. Fort heureusement mon téléphone, sur lequel j’avais effectué la recherche, avait conservé en cache la page et je pus donc la copier dans le post même. La page revint en ligne tout aussi mystérieusement qu’elle avait disparu dans les jours qui ont suivi. Bien sur, ce n’est plus vérifiable à l’heure actuelle. Seul subsiste un commentaire en date du 26 Décembre 2012 qui en atteste. J’en conclus alors que la trêve des confiseurs existait aussi pour les pages web.
L’amorce du processus diplomatique:
« En 1857, le consul de France à Jérusalem s’adresse en ces termes au cabinet du ministre des Affaires étrangères pour lui demander de faire une démarche pour obtenir un firmân du sultan ottoman afin d’autoriser l’achat d’un bien immobilier à Jérusalem et pour justifier l’importance de cet achat : « Votre Excellence comprendra facilement tout ce qu’une pareille œuvre de civilisation peut faire gagner à notre influence en Orient. » »
« La période qui suit la promulgation du Code de la propriété foncière en 1858, jusqu’à la promulgation du Code de la propriété des étrangers en 1867, se caractérise, d’une part, par la mise à profit du calme international entre certains États européens, notamment la France et l’Angleterre, après la défaite de la Russie, ennemi traditionnel de l’Empire ottoman, lors de la guerre de Crimée (1853-1856). D’autre part, elle voit l’amélioration des rapports entre Européens et Ottomans. Ces facteurs se conjuguent pour faciliter l’acquisition de propriétés foncières à Jérusalem. «
Ottoman Land Registration Law as a Contributing Factor in the Israeli-Arab Conflict
La loi ottomane d’enregistrement des terres, un facteur déterminant dans le conflit Israélo-arabe
http://www.beki.org/landlaw.html
A Writing on Nonviolence by Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen
The Ottoman Land Code and Registration Laws of 1858 and 1859 contributed to the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine and Israel. (See map below.) This essay will outline the intent and provisions of the laws; then, will describe some effects of the laws; and finally, will discuss the implications for Jewish-Arab relations.
Intent and Provisions of the Land Laws
The Ottoman Land Code of 21 April 1858 defined five classes of land ownership: ملك milk, وقف waqf, ميري mīrī, متروك matrūk and موات mawāt. Milk is « land in unrestricted private ownership, » land for which the raqaba (paramount ownership) is vested in the individual.1 What little milk there was in Palestine was mostly « plots of land which had at the time of distribution [by Muslim conquerors] been assigned to unbelievers…. »2 Waqf includes land « dedicated to a religious purpose » — theoretically owned by God — and administered or held in trust by a stipulated party such as a religious council.3
For mīrī, matrūk and mawāt, the raqaba is vested in the hands of the state. Mīrī is cultivated or cultivatable land acquired for the state through conquest or through forfeiture of milk due to a failure of heirs. An individual could gain rights over mīrī land by cultivating it and paying taxes; but the state continued to regulate its transfer and improvement. The tenant’s rights to mīrī were forfeited by failure to cultivate the land; such forfeited land is termed maḥlūl. In practice, neither the Ottomans nor the British ever repossessed maḥlūl.4 Mīrī included « by far the largest portion of the landed property in Palestine. »5 (It should be noted that subsequent laws gradually extended the rights of mīrī tenure to approach those of milk.)6 Mīrī land could be converted by order of the sultan into matrūk maḥmiyya (property for general public use such as lakes or roads) or into matrūk murfaqa (property for use by a particular community such as market places and cemeteries).7
Mawāt is wasteland which an individual could (until 1858) turn into milk with the permission of the sultan and (until 1921) turn into mīrī by cultivating it for a given period of time and paying for it.8
According to Abraham Granott, « The object of the law of 1858, which dealt primarily with these three classes of property [viz., mīrī, matrūk and mawāt], was to maintain the rights of the State over them. »9 Similarly, Robert H. Eisenman asserts that the « principle aim » of the Land Code of 1858 « was the reassertion of Government control over State Domain…. »10 The concept of state ownership of land was in fact an idea in Islamic law which however central was nonetheless often « ambiguous and unclear. »11
In contrast, Justice Tute contends that after the abolition of the « feudal conditions » in the Ottoman land revenue system after 1839, a confiscatory and corrupt system of tax-farming emerged which harmed the tenants and reduced state revenues.12 « It was…to restore the prosperity of the agriculturalists, » writes Tute, « that the Land Code of 1858 was framed. …It is clear that this legislation could only be given effect to by setting up a system of land registration. »13
The Land Code of 1858 was thus soon followed by the Tapu Law of 14 December 1858 which provided for the issuance of title-deeds. « Procedures for registration, not only of old title, but also of transfers, inheritance, vivification of mewat, the auction of maḥlūl, and prior purchase…were dealt with in the Tapu Law. »14 The Tapu Seneds Law, issued in 1859, provided that « No one in the future for any reason whatsoever will be able to possess mīrī without a title-deed. »15
Effects of the Land Laws
The provisions requiring registration, however, were « extensively ignored. »16 The peasants were semi-literate and accustomed to a traditional society in which custom and oral evidence were sufficient to support an individual’s claim to property.17 Landholders saw no great need to register their claim and often did so only when they wanted to sell it to another party.18
Indeed, the peasants had strong incentives to not register or to under-register their land. One incentive was the tradition of mistrust of or opposition to government — what Granott calls the « indolence which characterizes the peasants’ attitude towards official regulations » — and the desire to avoid granting unnecessary legitimization to the government.19 A second incentive was evasion of current and potential taxes on registered property.20 A third incentive to avoid registration was evasion of registration fees21 or penalties and fines for late registration.22 A fourth incentive was evasion of military conscription based on or traced through land holdings.23
Making matters worse, the land was registered piecemeal — that is, the status of a tract of land was recorded only when the owner had it registered. There was no cadastral survey,24 and « in most cases there were no measurements or maps and it was impossible to determine the boundaries of the properties. »25 Claims to disputed lands brought later were therefore all the more difficult to prove.
Hence land was often not registered in the name of its « rightful owner. » As long as the peasants were able to continue working their land, the registration did not concern them. But the problems arose not just because the land was not registered; they arose also because the land was often registered in the name of someone other than the rightful owner. This occurred several ways.
The widespread practice of mushā` (collective land tenure) led to misregistration. Often a community’s lands were registered in the names of a few individuals or even in the name of just one individual.26 Later, under the British Mandate, matrūk was often registered in the name of the High Commissioner.27
The effect of these registration laws have been described as « catastrophic. »28 The practice of registering land in the name of a fictitious or dead individual, and the inexact and incomplete nature of the records made the peasant’s claim to tenure insecure. Worst of all perhaps was the fact that local town merchants or city magnates often filed whole villages or series of villages in their own names. « The entrusting of the implementation of the [Ottoman Land] law [of 1858] to the local administration … made a mockery of the intentions of the legislator. Instead of strengthening the state’s rights over the mīrī land and the rights of the cultivators, the a`yān [notables] succeeded in registering large stretches of land in their own names. »29 All together, the laws contributed significantly to the concentration of property titles into the hands of a few individuals and the state.30 One writer observes concerning the code that « long before the Balfour Declaration, which is often seen as the fount of all contention over Palestine, the inarticulate but ancient peasantry had slipped a rung on the ladder which was to lead them down into the refugee camps in 1948. »31
Implications for Jewish-Arab relations
The registration laws and the corollary concentration of land-title holdings contributed to the conflict between Jews and Arabs in several ways. Eisenman notes that the frequent failure of individuals to gain recognition of their land rights (when eventually they discovered they needed such recognition) was an important root of « hostile sentiments and antagonisms that were later to erupt between Arabs and Jews during the Mandate. »32
These « hostile sentiments and antagonisms » developed not merely as a result of the « numerous and prolonged lawsuits » fought over land ownership33 but even more directly as a result of the eviction of hundreds of tenant families from lands they considered their own when large landholders sold their holdings to Jews. Most of the two million dunams (200,000 hectares) of land owned by Jews at the end of the Mandate were acquired through purchases from large landowners. As John Ruedy notes, « The land expert representing the Jewish Agency before the Shaw Commission of 1929 claimed that 90% of lands bought up to that time came from absentee landlords. During the 1930s the proportion fell to 80%. In the last decade of the mandate they were about 73%. »34 Further, the British prohibition on land ownership by Jews in Palestine east of the Jordan River served to concentrate and thereby intensify the effect of land purchases by Jews in Palestine west of the Jordan River.35
The « hostile sentiments and antagonisms » developed moreover from a general and growing awareness among Palestinian Arabs of the alienation of their homeland. While many forces contributed to the growth of national consciousness and nationalism among Palestinian Arabs, it is sufficient to note here that the alienation of land in the scope and manner of its occurrence was one significant factor. « Prohibition of the transfer of Arab lands to Jews » was one of the three main « November Demands » put forward by the Palestinian Arabs’ « United Front » before the revolt of 1936.36
In 1948 the Israeli Government took over all British Government Lands in the area of Palestine which it controlled.37 These State Lands included mawāt, matrūk maḥmiyya, and abandoned mīrī, and represented about 70% of all Israeli-controlled Palestine.38 The mawāt lands, which accounted for over half of the State lands, had been (as of 1931) supporting 7,869 landowners and 2,508 tenants.39 Although previously reckoned as owners of the land « by the act of possession »40 these farmers had no title-deeds and therefore had little legal claim to the land. As noted above, matrūk lands were sometimes registered in the name of Mandate officials; these now become State Lands as well. Finally, « security » orders were used to « temporarily » clear certain lands of inhabitants; and after a specified time such lands were then declared uncultivated (maḥlūl), thereby transferring full legal title to the State.41 In these ways antagonisms between Jews and Arabs — which continue to a great degree to center on the issue of land — were exacerbated.
The Ottoman Land Codes and Laws of 1858 and 1859, then, were issued in order to assure state control over the lands of Palestine and to increase state revenues from those lands. For a variety of reasons much of the cultivated or occupied land was never registered or was registered in the name of someone other than the individual or collective that actually worked it. The resulting concentration of land ownership and the confusion as to legitimate title contributed significantly to the development of antagonism and ill-will between Jews and Arabs in Palestine and Israel.
