Land for the Fellahin, I.

The article focuses on physical features of the Near East which makes it evident that the potentialities of this great area should be judged according to the standards that are valid there, not necessarily in Western Europe or in the United States. It is that part of the world which lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, south of Turkey and north of Egypt, forming virtually a cultural unit. This part of the world, a substantial area, has been the cradle of civilization. This is a region of great trading centers rather than of thriving agricultural development on rich farmland. The Near East enjoys what is customarily known as a Mediterranean type of climate, but there are many variations of this type which are caused by the structural differences of the area. The farmer is never allowed to forget his proximity to the desert, from which a hot wind may suddenly blow. A dominating fact of life in the Near East is that there are two ways of life, climatically induced but diametrically opposed to each other, the life of the settled husband man, who is anchored to the soil, and the life of the nomadic herdsman, who is ever on the move in search of pasture for his animals. The naive Occidental cannot but be influenced by his own concepts of the low productivity of the land as at present exploited by the Near Eastern fellahin.