Thirty Arab felahin of a Gaza tribe now sojourning in the Beisan district have sold their daughters and already handed them over to masters in Tulkarem, Nablus, and Haifa, according to a declaration made today by Emir Vashir Hassan, chief of the tribe. The chieftain, in a letter to El Carmel, an Arab newspaper, declared that the heavy burden of taxes imposed on the felahin was forcing them to sell their daughters in order to pay their debts.
Emir Bashir Hassan added that a certain Transjordan official not only forced the tribesmen to labor for public purposes, but compelled them to build houses for him and for his family.
The editor of El Carmel says: “We believe what Emir Bashan says to be true, but we are amazed that such things are permitted in the twentieth century under the British Mandate.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
