Between Two Empires and Two States: The Central Jordan Valley and the Jiftlik Saraya

This chapter deals with the marginal area controlled by Bedouins of the Eastern Jordan Valley in Palestine during the Ottoman imperial rule, land policy, and privatization in Ottoman and British Mandate Palestine, under the rule of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and of the State of Israel. During the three sub-periods this region was and remained a marginal and peripheral area from the point of view of land and settlement. It survived and developed due to geopolitical interests of the two empires. It declined under one state but resurged with the establishment of 21 new settlements under the State of Israel which currently governs the area, changes that were the result of political and historical considerations. We will elaborate on the Jiftlik Saraya (government house building) in the Jordan Valley, its original function and architecture, as well as its extension and the political reasons for its transformation into a police post by the British Mandate Government of Palestine. Finally, we will touch on its function during Jordanian and Israeli rule, and on the current importance of preserving the existing building.