Summary
A patrilineal descent group related by the fifth degree from a common ancestor; the basis of collective solidarity in the peasant villages of Jabal Nablus, where most villages had an average of two to four hamulas (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 446-495).
Details
- The clan system provided a safety net for individual families amid the vagaries of rain-fed agriculture and poor hill soil, and clans were responsible for defending their members and for negotiating settlements or taking revenge for bodily harm, under the direction of clan elders applying ‘Urf (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 446-495).
- Clans varied in size and power according to their number of adult males, internal cohesion, the size of lands they controlled and the efficacy of their political alliances; larger and more powerful clans had branches in a number of villages and were connected to each other through marriage, political alliance and patronage networks (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 446-495, lines 459-495).
- Peasants of each village usually paid taxes and even contracted loans on a collective, clan-mediated basis (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 446-495).
Related pages
Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, ‘Urf, Jabal Nablus