Table of Contents
This third installment explores how the Ottoman Empire consistently opposed Jewish settlement in Palestine despite increasing foreign pressure, revealing a systematic defense of Jerusalem that contradicts modern misconceptions about Ottoman policy toward Palestine.
Continuing the Struggle for Palestine
In the name of ALLAH, praise be to ALLAH, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of ALLAH, His family, companions, and those who follow Him.
Welcome, dear brothers and sisters, to this new article in “The Palestine Story” series. In this series, we are concisely narrating the story of Palestine from the emergence of the Zionist idea—the idea of Jewish return to Palestine—until the outbreak of the flood in October 2023. We aim to understand the roots of this story and why it remains, even after a hundred years, a burning and inflammatory issue. Why did Herzl succeed where Jews had failed for 3,000 years? What is the future of this story as mentioned in the Holy Quran?
Once again, for those who wish to expand upon and verify this information, these articles are extracted from my book “The Summary of the Palestine Story“1. I will, ALLAH willing, provide a link to download it for anyone who wishes to review and verify the information.
In our previous article, we stopped at the crucial ten years in the establishment of Israel, the years in which Muhammad Ali Pasha occupied the Levant and established massive political, economic, and social influence for foreigners and Jews. We discussed how this situation was not completed due to international circumstances beyond Muhammad Ali’s control and calculations. Thus, Muhammad Ali’s project in the Levant was dealt a decisive blow, and with it, the establishment of Israel was obstructed. However, these were the years in which the idea of returning Jews began to transition from religious calls, rabbinical dreams, and dervish poetry to political projects discussed in the press and contemplated by politicians and decision-makers.
The Aftermath of Muhammad Ali’s Defeat
Now we continue with the question we posed at the end of the last episode: Since Muhammad Ali’s project was obstructed, how did the idea return and how did Israel emerge again?
Let’s continue the story. True, Muhammad Ali’s efforts failed to maintain control of the Levant, but the effects left by these ten years were strong, even forming a foundation upon which later actors built. The Ottoman Empire, when it regained control of the Levant, could not return things to how they were before, because this new situation created by Muhammad Ali had established roots and seeds in the Levant and in Jerusalem specifically, due to Jewish numbers, economic projects, and the British embassy.
We must also note that the Ottoman Empire’s return to ruling the Levant was not by its strength alone; it could not remove Muhammad Ali by itself but did so with British help. Therefore, the British were present among the victors, gaining advantages and influence. The foreign presence remained strong, especially the British presence.
While Muhammad Ali’s efforts died, Jewish attempts did not. There were several Jewish attempts that continued after Muhammad Ali left the Levant. In the period between Muhammad Ali’s departure and Herzl’s emergence—the fifty-year period from 1840 to 1890—there were attempts.
Continued Jewish Settlement Efforts
For example, among the most important of these attempts was that of the Jewish traveler Laurence Oliphant. This man, in 1880—he explained this in a published book called “The Land of Gilead”. This book was translated into Arabic and published in 2004 in Jordan by Majdalawi Publishing, for those who wish to see and learn more about this attempt.
There was another attempt by Samuel Montagu. This British Jewish banker was a member of the British Parliament and president of an association called “Lovers of Zion”. In 1893—before Herzl—he tried to persuade Sultan Abdul Hamid II to allow Jews to colonize East Jordan.
In the same year—1893—the German Zionist Bohlendorff developed a plan to bring Zionist gangs to settle east of the Jordan River, working to establish themselves and expel the Bedouins in these areas.
In any case, for those who want to expand on these attempts, I recommend a book called “Jewish Settlement Projects from the French Revolution to the End of World War I” by Professor Amin Abdullah. This book is published in the Knowledge World series. Also, for those who want to expand, there is Dr. Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri’s encyclopedia “Jews, Judaism, and Zionism”.
Also, in that period after Muhammad Ali, after 1840, a number of Jewish associations and organizations were established in European countries and in Russia as well, working to facilitate migration to Palestine and to support the Jewish minority in Palestine, whether by direct transfer of money or by establishing agricultural and industrial projects.
In fact, the Egyptian historian Dr. Abdel-Aziz Awad had an important research published in the Egyptian Historical Journal in issue 21—a journal known to those interested in history—titled “The Emergence of Jewish Settlement in Palestine”, in which he traced these forms of support and the establishment of agricultural projects.
Two Paths of Foreign Influence
Besides Jewish attempts, there were attempts cloaked under foreign influence, the foreign influence that had been established in the Levant and Palestine during Muhammad Ali’s years. Therefore, we can see two paths here; these attempts can be divided into two paths:
The first path: the path of influential politicians and decision-makers in European capitals. The second path: foreign consuls present in the Levant for these countries.
Let’s start with the first path, which is the path of politicians, influential figures, and decision-makers.
We will find, for example, among the most prominent who worked on combining the interest of the colonial empire with the goal of returning Jews to Palestine, most prominently a man named Ernest Laharanne. He was the private secretary to Napoleon III. Napoleon III was a famous French emperor who ruled France for 22 years, from 1848 to 1870. This man’s period witnessed French expansion in the East, so France was extending and expanding colonially. This private secretary wrote a book calling for the settlement of Jews in Palestine, entitled—of course published in French—”The Eastern Question: Judaism, the Egyptian and Arab Empire, and the Revival of Jewish Nationalism”.
The second important, dangerous man: Lord Palmerston. We mentioned that he was the most famous English political figure, was Britain’s foreign minister and was its prime minister, and had extensive efforts in trying to extract approval from the Ottoman Sultan to allow the establishment of a homeland for Jews in Palestine. We mentioned some of this in the previous article, of course.
And there are others. For those who want to learn about them, they were collected by the Egyptian Jew Eli Levy Abu Asal, who has a book called “The Awakening of the Jewish World”. It was among the books that promoted the Zionist project, collecting the names of European politicians who supported the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Christian Zionism Among Western Leaders
These politicians may have been merely secular colonialists, but some of them also had education, upbringing, and backgrounds that were Protestant, being deeply religious.
For example, Lloyd George. Lloyd George was the prime minister of the British government whose foreign minister issued the Balfour Declaration. Balfour was the foreign minister, while the prime minister was Lloyd George. Lloyd George was much more important than Balfour, but the fame of the Balfour Declaration raised Balfour’s name and obscured the name of his prime minister who was more important than him, which is Lloyd George.
This Lloyd George said about himself that he knew the countries mentioned in the Old Testament—meaning the villages of Palestine—better than he knew places in Europe, and that he memorized the kings and prophets of the Children of Israel better than he memorized the kings of Britain. Imagine a man with this Jewish depth! To the extent that even David Fromkin in his book “A Peace to End All Peace” devoted a chapter called “Lloyd George’s Zionism”.
In short, and as Dr. El-Messiri, may ALLAH have mercy on him, says, “Most of these countries, the European countries, issued Balfourian promises or what resembles Balfourian promises”. So we had a spectrum of politicians working on returning Jews to Palestine.
Of course, later America entered the line and also began pressuring the Ottomans. They pressed them in the late 1880s of the century before last to receive and settle Jews coming to it, who were Jews living in Russia, because Jews were subjected to massive massacres in Russia beginning in 1881.
By the way, the story of Zionism in America and its development, there is a beautiful book that monitored it briefly, Michael Oren’s book titled “Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East”. This book contains this summary: Zionism in America.
This is the first path, which is the path of politicians and decision-makers in Western capitals.
The Role of Foreign Consuls in Palestine
The second path, as we mentioned, is the path of foreign consuls actually present in the Levant, in Islamic lands, or in Ottoman territories. These were doing underground work, work on the ground. Whenever they had the opportunity to buy land in Palestine—of course according to laws of foreign ownership, as the Ottoman Empire, like any state, even existing states now, had laws regulating foreign ownership; an Egyptian can own property in America, an American can own property in Egypt, and there are laws regulating this—these consuls used these laws to buy lands and properties and pass them to Jews.
They exploited these conditions sometimes naturally as laws, and sometimes abnormally. This abnormal form resulted from the legacy of Muhammad Ali’s era, meaning in the form of influence, foreign presence, foreign privileges, and so on.
At that time, the Ottoman Empire was suffering from a severe financial crisis, a crisis of accumulated debts. Therefore, due to the Ottoman state’s need for money, the state sometimes resorted to selling some lands in public auctions, which would be bought by these foreign consuls and passed through legal or illegal methods to Jews.
Of course, at that time, the Jewish project was not in the mind of the Ottoman politician; the whole Jewish problem and the problem of establishing a state was a very simple problem compared to the problems that were in the mind of the Ottoman Sultan or the Ottoman politician in general.
The second matter is that they would extend their protection to Jews in the Levant and in Palestine within foreign privileges, and use consular influence to establish the presence of these Jews and empower them.
On many occasions, these consuls also worked on circumventing and bypassing Ottoman laws. For those who wish to expand on this, I recommend reviewing a book such as “Jewish Settlement Projects”, and there is an excellent study by researcher Dr. Naela Al-Waari titled “The Role of Foreign Consulates in Jewish Immigration and Settlement in Palestine from 1840 to 1914”, which is truly an excellent study.
Ottoman Corruption and Foreign Influence
The important thing, as happens in any state, is that this foreign influence would also definitely find outlets and entries through corrupt men in the corridors of Ottoman administration. These corrupt individuals might be Westernized originally, might have foreign inclinations, or might be corrupt in the sense of being slaves to money, slaves to desires, people who could be bought.
We must pay close attention that talking about the Ottoman Empire’s resistance to the Jewish state is not only related to the position of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II towards Herzl. No, of course we will come, ALLAH willing, to the position of Sultan Abdul Hamid II towards Herzl. But the Ottoman Empire and its resistance to Jewish settlement existed before that, even before Herzl himself appeared.
We mentioned in the first episode some of the firmans issued by sultans during the time of the Ottoman Empire’s strength, which fought Jewish settlement in Sinai, of course three centuries before the moment we are talking about.
Ottoman Measures Against Jewish Settlement
But now let’s look at how the Ottoman Empire confronted Jewish settlement projects. When we flip through history, we see these stations as follows:
First: We will see the failure of Moses Montefiore’s extensive settlement project, which Muhammad Ali approved. This project was crushed after the Ottoman Empire returned to rule the Levant. Even the Egyptian Jew Eli Levy Abu Asal expresses what happened with this phrase, saying: “This blow—the Ottoman blow which is the defeat of Muhammad Ali—hit the liver of the projects that Montefiore was working hard to accomplish, wrestling them and cutting them to pieces”. This is an example of Ottoman resistance.
Second: An Ottoman document dated 6 Rabi’ al-Thani 1262 AH, which corresponds to April 3, 1846: an order from Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majid to the governor of Jerusalem to reclaim [land] purchased by a British Jew and sell it to any citizen of the Ottoman Empire, because the document revealed that ownership of foreign Jews in the land of Palestine was prohibited by a previous law—a previous law before this moment in history.
Third: The persistent attempts made by Palmerston—the man we mentioned was the British Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, who was insistent and persistent with the sultans about establishing a Jewish state to protect the Ottoman Empire from Muhammad Ali—these also failed. The Ottoman Sultan did not allow granting any piece of Palestine’s land to Jews, and some sources even record this with phrases like: “due to the solid stubbornness of the Sublime Porte”.
Fourth: We find another document on the eighteenth of Rajab 1287 AH, which equals October 13, 1870. On this date, Sultan Abdul Aziz issued a Saniyya Decree—meaning a sultanic decree—stipulating that the land of Palestine is Amiri land, meaning official land, land belonging to the state, ownership belonging to the Ottoman Sultanate. And this decision was aimed at preventing Jews from settling in Jerusalem.
Fifth: In 1874, Jerusalem was converted into a Mutasarrifate, a city with a special status, administratively linked to the capital Istanbul. That is, it would not be subordinate to the province of the Levant, Damascus province, or others. Rather, it was considered a Mutasarrifate and administratively linked directly to the capital Istanbul. For this purpose, its administrative apparatus was developed to be one of the centers of the major provinces, thus maximizing its administrative status to be followed directly from the capital.
Growing Jewish Settlement Efforts
Sixth: The Jewish man Laurence Oliphant whom we talked about, the author of “The Land of Gilead”, recorded at the end of his book how his project had failed, and wrote this phrase about Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his men—wrote that “the priority in their political work is to resist the foreigner in everything”.
Seventh: The American attempts made by American ambassadors to Sultan Abdul Hamid II to open Palestine for receiving Jews, also all failed. We mentioned that the Americans were pressing for the reception of Jews who fled from Russian massacres, and that America condemned Ottoman measures. All that was of no use, as Michael Oren says.
Eighth: This is a document dated Jumada al-Awwal 1299 AH, or April 1882 CE. At that time, Jewish migration from Russia had begun because there was persecution. Sultan Abdul Hamid issued a circular informing Jews who wanted to migrate to the Ottoman Empire that he would not allow them to settle in Palestine, telling them to migrate to another Ottoman province and settle on the condition that they become Ottoman subjects, but not in Palestine and not under foreign patronage.
Two months later, in Rajab 1299, or June 1882, a telegram arrived from Sultan Abdul Hamid to the governor of Jerusalem to prevent Russian migrant Jews—arriving at Palestine’s ports—and have them accompanied by the ships that transported them, meaning to return again with the ships that brought them to any other Ottoman port. Orders were issued to deport all who had settled in Jerusalem, as well as similar orders to every province in the Levant to prevent Jews from settling or infiltrating into Palestine.
Two years later, in 1884, the Ottoman Empire issued a decision to limit the duration of Jews’ visits to Palestine to one month—we said Jews used to make pilgrimage to Palestine—so they allowed them one month. Then, under foreign pressure, they increased this period to three months. And as foreign pressures continued, Ottoman evasions and resistance also continued.
In summary, this decade—the 1880s in the nineteenth century—witnessed Ottoman activity and vigilance in confronting Jewish attempts, especially migrants from Russia, so that they would not settle in Palestine.
Intensified Ottoman Resistance
We enter the decade after it, the 1890s of the nineteenth century: we will find a number of successive decisions, and this appears in Ottoman documents. Sultan Abdul Hamid, for example, in 1308 AH—corresponding to 1890 CE—issued a decision to close legal loopholes through which some Jews were able to buy private lands.
When Sultan Abdul Hamid issued a decision to make land in Jerusalem Amiri land, there were lands owned by people—about twenty percent—so here Jews began buying from these already owned lands and not from the lands that had been converted to Amiri.
Abdul Hamid issued a decision to close these loopholes through which Jews had penetrated to buy private lands and made efforts to buy as much land in Palestine as he could of private properties whose owners wanted to sell, buying them from his own private treasury—to cut off avenues for Jewish buyers.
For example, in 1308 AH—which corresponds to 1891 CE—the Sultan ordered his ministry to refuse acceptance of Jewish immigrants expelled from Europe, to refuse receiving them in Ottoman territories because—and this is written verbatim—as he said: “This will lead to the formation of a Mosaic government”. And he says: “In this matter are many intrigues”.
In the same year, Abdul Hamid reaffirmed this decision when he wrote a letter to the Military Committee, saying that “accepting these Mosaics—meaning Jews—and housing them or giving them citizenship rights is very harmful, in the future a matter of a Mosaic government”—meaning a Jewish state—”may arise from this”.
In Dhu al-Qi’dah of the same year, Abdul Hamid once again affirmed—as appears in Ottoman documents—these decisions, and rejected the position of Western countries that condemned the Ottomans’ refusal to accept Jewish immigrants. Abdul Hamid says: “These Mosaics, if settled in any other part of the Ottoman Empire, will infiltrate into Palestine little by little”. Therefore, he says: “Whatever measures are taken, and they will seek to form a Mosaic government with the encouragement and protection of European countries”. Truly penetrating insight! We are talking now about 1891.
And as I told you, whoever looks at the history of the Ottoman Empire at that time sees this issue as a very simple matter compared to other large and great problems.
In 1896, Abdul Hamid also prevented Jewish companies from owning land. He allowed ownership of fixed properties only for Jews who had been present in these countries before 1893.
It’s a big issue. But so as not to drown you in details, I recommend returning to these sources. I see that they contain—for those who want to expand in understanding Ottoman resistance:
- The book “The Unknown Ottoman Empire” by Dr. Ahmed Akgündüz.
- The research “Jewish Migration to Palestine and the Ottoman Empire’s Position on It”, by Dr. Abdel-Aziz Awad, published as research in the Journal of the Faculty of Arts, University of Riyadh in 1974.
- The book “Sultan Abdul Hamid II” by historian Orhan Muhammad Ali.
- Dr. Naela Al-Waari’s book “The Role of Foreign Consulates”.
- There is a research—a master’s thesis—by a Gaza researcher named Marwan Abu Shamala, titled “The Zionist Strategy Towards the City of Jerusalem”.
- There is a book by the great historian Professor Muhammad Shaaban Sawan, a book called “The Sultan and History”, in which he reviewed these matters.
Of course, there are minor differences in sources in controlling dates. And there are also books devoted to this subject, such as Dr. Hassan Hallaq’s book “The Ottoman Empire’s Position on the Zionist Movement”.
The Significance of Ottoman Resistance
What I want to emphasize now is that all these measures I mentioned were before the appearance of Herzl and before the establishment of the Zionist movement.
Everything that happened—that is, everything Abdul Hamid did—does not mean that the desired fruit was achieved. In truth, breaches occurred. These breaches resulted from the weakness of the Ottoman Empire, the strength of foreign influence, administrative corruption. But the intent here is that the established approach of the Ottoman Empire was to protect Palestine and resist the Jewish state.
Frankly, this is a matter that should not have been prolonged, nor should I have spent all this time on it, because it is in the nature of states and the instinct of states to preserve their land and to be sensitive to the establishment of independent entities within them. But we had to clarify this for two reasons:
The first reason: The widespread accusations in our contemporary reality of the Ottoman Empire betraying Arabs and neglecting Palestine. From how much this has spread, it’s as if it has become a truth for many generations, and this is increasingly promoted and marketed now in our contemporary reality, that is, in the political conflicts between Arab countries and Turkey, this talk increases.
This is the first reason: correcting rumors.
The second reason: The reality established by the treacherous policies of contemporary regimes—the idea of the concept of nationalism and patriotism—this idea has made the issue of neglecting Palestine and Jerusalem seem less significant to many people. The general feeling accepts, from a political perspective, that the rulers of Arab and Muslim countries are not responsible for liberating Palestine, not responsible for fighting Zionists, not responsible for liberating Al-Aqsa Mosque, not responsible for mobilizing armies to protect Al-Aqsa.
This is a result of the concept of nationalism, which is an odious concept, and it is a concept contrary to Islam, the concept of narrow nationalism that makes rulers responsible only for the borders of their countries as defined for them by colonialism and occupation. Consequently, because this national, nationalist, regional feeling existed, the sanctity of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque has diminished in the consciences of many people, and they have come to accept that the Ottomans may have neglected them.
That is, it is acceptable to many people that the Ottomans were politicians and, for their political and financial interests, neglected Palestine and Jerusalem. This is not true, which is why we emphasize its error, and why we have elaborated on this talk.
The Ottoman authority sanctified these Levantine lands, calling the Levant “Noble Levant” as we said, and sanctified Jerusalem.
The Emergence of the Zionist Movement
Now an important question emerges: Since the Ottoman Empire made all this effort, why didn’t it succeed in the end? Who is this legendary enemy, this terrible enemy before whom the Ottoman Empire failed, and what is this Zionist movement that was able to overcome the will of the Ottoman sultans and the firmans of the Ottoman sultans and also establish Israel? What is this Zionist movement?
This, ALLAH willing, is what we will see in the next episode.
We ask ALLAH Almighty to teach us what benefits us, to benefit us with what HE has taught us, and to increase us in knowledge, and peace be upon you and ALLAH ‘s mercy and blessings.
Sources:
- Mohamed Elhamy. قصة فلسطين | 3. المقاومة العثمانية للدولة الصهيونية. YouTube Video.
