British Palestine's urban waste history

BLOCYP project refers to Palestine as the territory under the British Mandate from 1922 to 1948. During this period, the territory was officially named Palestine (English), Filastin (فلسطين, Arabic), and Palestina EI, where EI stands for Eretz Israel (פלשתינה א"י, Hebrew).

Present

The British Mandate of Palestine encompassed approximately 25,585 km² between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Today, this area includes the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories. The BLOCYP project explicitly focuses on cities currently in Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Jaffa. Today, Jerusalem stands as the largest city in the country, with a population of one million. It is Israel's capital and a focal point of the Arab-Israeli conflict, situated on mountainous terrain about 800 meters above sea level. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were unified in 1950 to form Tel Aviv-Yafo, a city with around half a million residents. It serves as Israel's primary economic and cultural hub.

Past

Palestine emerged as a new political entity following World War I. After 400 years of Ottoman rule, the British occupied the territory in 1917-1918. In 1922, the League of Nations granted Great Britain a mandate over Palestine. The government of the High Commissioner Herbert Samuel established Jerusalem as the capital and defined the territory's boundaries. Over the 30 years of British rule, Palestine underwent significant transformations. The population surged from approximately 500,000 to 1,800,000, with the Jewish population increasing from 10% to 30%. Urbanization and modernization accelerated, marked by technological advancements in infrastructure, industry, transportation, and agriculture. However, this period also saw repeated violent clashes between the Arab and Jewish communities. These processes influenced waste treatment and other environmental issues. The mandate concluded with the British withdrawal and the onset of the 1948 war.

The country's main urban centers under British rule were Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Jaffa. These cities had distinct characteristics. Jerusalem, the capital and a holy city for Christians, Jews, and Muslims, had mixed Jewish and Arab populations residing in separate areas for the different communities. Jerusalem's population grew from 60,000 in 1922 to 165,000 in 1948. Tel Aviv was a predominantly Jewish-European city that replaced Jaffa as the central gateway city for the Jewish population into Palestine. Tel Aviv expanded from 13,000 to over 200,000 residents, becoming the largest city in Palestine since the mid-1930s. Jaffa was Palestine's primary port until 1933 and, thereafter, the second largest port. It was also a central cultural and commercial hub mainly for the Arab population. Jaffa's population doubled from about 40,000 in 1922 to about 80,000 by the end of the British mandate.

BLOCYP in Palestine

The study focuses on waste treatment in the three largest cities of British Palestine: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Jaffa. It is mainly based on intensive archival research in the Municipal Archive of Jerusalem, the Municipal Archive of Tel Aviv-Yafo, and the Israel National Archive, as well as an analysis of historical maps and photos. The rapid urban growth in Palestine between the 1920s and 1940s created a vast waste treatment challenge. BLOCYP examines how town leaders and the British Government of Palestine faced the challenge and the results of their decisions.

This project is funded by the EU Horizon MSCA PF 2024 programme under grant agreement number 101150702 .