1 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE LOCATION OF THE EARLY ZIONIST SETTLEMENTS IN OTTOMAN PALESTINE: 1880-1915. Gerald D. Sack Departments of Nursing, Behavioural Science and Mysticism, Safed Academic College, Israel. geralddsack@gmail.com; geralds@zefat.ac.il Factors influencing the location of the early Zionist Settlements in Ottoman Palestine: 1880-1905. Word Count: 8,412. Abstract: Most of the first Jewish rural settlements established in Ottoman Palestine in the late 19 th Century have something in common that has not yet been systematically analyzed. This common factor is their physical location: on low or high ground. Most of the first Jewish settlements were established in plains and valleys for several reasons, while Arab rural settlements were located in the hills and mountains. The paper discusses how Palestinian notables (effendis) who purchase or leased the usufruct rights to state land after the promulgation of the Ottoman Land Code in 1858, subsequently sold all or part of their landholdings in the valleys and plains of Late Ottoman Palestine to Jewish purchasers until the British conquest of Palestine in 1917. Word Count: 108.