Kurdish officials. The movement was led by Michel Dome, mayor of Qamishli, Hanna Hebe, general vicar for the Syriac-Catholic Patriarch of Jazira, and the Kurdish notable Hajo Agha. Some Arab tribes supported the autonomists while others sided with the central government. In the legislative elections of 1936, autonomist candidates won all the parliamentary seats in Jazira and Jarabulus, while the nationalist Arab movement known as the National Bloc won the elections in the rest of Syria. After victory, the National Bloc pursued an aggressive policy toward the autonomists. In July 1937, armed conflict broke out between the Syrian police and the supporters of the movement. As a result, the governor and a significant portion of the police force fled the region and the rebels established local autonomous administration in Jazira. In August 1937 a number of Assyrians in Amuda were killed by a pro-Damascus Kurdish chief. In September 1938, Hajo Agha chaired a general conference in Jazira and appealed to France for self-government. The new French High Commissioner, Gabriel Puaux, dissolved parliament and created autonomous administrations for Jabal Druze, Latakia and Jazira in 1939 which lasted until 1943. Economy The Governorate has a decade long history of farming. Already in 1921, the French wanted to develop the agricultural sector and over a feasibility study of the Union Economique de Syrie the region was seen profitable for the cotton production. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the agricultural expansion grew significantly. When the USA instated a control on cotton exports during the Korean War, the cotton production in the province increased eightfold. By 1960s, the province had the second largest amount of cultivated land in Syria per capita, but was still the lowest in terms of cultivable land per capita. Other economic branches are wheat and oil. Before the eruption of the Syrian Civil the province accounted for about half of the Syrian oil production. Demographics Al-Hasakah Governorate's ethnic groups include Kurds, Arabs, Syriac-Aramaic Christians (Assyrians), Armenians and Yazidis. The majority of the Arabs and Kurds in the region are Sunni Muslim. Between 20 and 30% of the people of Al-Hasakeh city are Christians of various churches and denominations (majority Syriac Orthodox). Until the beginning of the 20th century, al-Hasakah Governorate (then called Jazira province) was a “no man’s land” primarily reserved for the grazing land of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. During the late days of the Ottoman