Survey of Palestine

Survey of Israel 1942–1958 1–100,000 Topographical maps. Click on each blue link to see the individual original maps in high resolution. The italicized links represent post-1948 maps, printed by the successor organization.

The Survey of Palestine was the government department responsible for the survey and mapping of Palestine during the British mandate period.

The survey department was established in 1920 in Jaffa, and moved to the outskirts of Tel Aviv in 1931.^[1] It established the Palestine grid.^[2] In early 1948, the British Mandate appointed a temporary Director General of the Survey Department for the impending Jewish State; this became the Survey of Israel.^[3]

The maps produced by the survey have been widely used in "Palestinian refugee cartography" by scholars documenting the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight;^[4] notably in Salman Abu Sitta's Atlas of Palestine and Walid Khalidi's All That Remains.^[4]^[5] In 2019 the maps were used as the basis for Palestine Open Maps, supported by the Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship.^[6]

^ Mitchell 1942, p. 389: "The Survey of Palestine was established in 1920 at Jaffa"
^ Gavish 2005, pp. 73–75.
^ "Important dates in the history of the Survey of Israel (Previously: Survey Department and Survey Section 1948-1971)". Heritage. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b Weaver, Alain Epp (2014). ""Homecoming Is Out of the Question" Palestinian Refugee Cartography and Edward Said's View from Exile". Mapping Exile and Return: Palestinian Dispossession and a Political Theology for a Shared Future. Fortress Press. pp. 25–58. ISBN 978-1-4514-7012-3.
^ Rempel, Terry (2012). "Review of Atlas of Palestine, 1917–1966". Holy Land Studies. 11: 225–227. doi:10.3366/hls.2012.0048.
^ "Palestinian oral history map launched". Middle East Monitor. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2020.

[FOOTNOTEMitchell1942389-1] Mitchell 1942, p. 389: "The Survey of Palestine was established in 1920 at Jaffa"

[FOOTNOTEGavish200573–75-2] Gavish 2005, pp. 73–75.

[Heritage_2022-3] "Important dates in the history of the Survey of Israel (Previously: Survey Department and Survey Section 1948-1971)". Heritage. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.

[Weaver2014-4] Weaver, Alain Epp (2014). ""Homecoming Is Out of the Question" Palestinian Refugee Cartography and Edward Said's View from Exile". Mapping Exile and Return: Palestinian Dispossession and a Political Theology for a Shared Future. Fortress Press. pp. 25–58. ISBN 978-1-4514-7012-3.

[5] Rempel, Terry (2012). "Review of Atlas of Palestine, 1917–1966". Holy Land Studies. 11: 225–227. doi:10.3366/hls.2012.0048.

[6] "Palestinian oral history map launched". Middle East Monitor. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2020.

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