Table of Contents
Table of Contents
This fifth installment explores the critical confrontation between Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Theodor Herzl, revealing how the Ottoman leader stood firm against enormous financial incentives and political pressure to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Herzl’s Encounter with Sultan Abdul Hamid II
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”, in which we concisely narrate the history of Palestine from the emergence of the idea of Jewish return to Palestine until the outbreak of the flood in 2023. We aim to understand the roots of this story, and why it remains, even after more than a hundred years, a burning and inflammatory issue, how Herzl succeeded where his predecessors failed for three thousand years, and what is the future of this story as mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah and as indicated by events.
Once again, I note that the material for these articles is extracted from the book “The Summary of the Palestine Story“1, and I will provide a link to download it, where those who wish to refer to it can verify every piece of information contained therein.
In the previous article, we stopped at the establishment of the Zionist movement and how it appeared as a formidable, legendary movement, and how its will overcame the will of the Ottoman sultans. We saw Herzl’s philosophy in establishing the Jewish state and in presenting the Jewish state project to each party in the political conflict as if it served their interests.
We ended with his famous and bitter story with Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and we still need to see in this article the story of Herzl with Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
The Financial Offer to the Ottoman Empire
Abdul Hamid II, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire at that time, was the shortest path to obtaining land for Jews in Palestine, because Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, Herzl worked hard to meet Sultan Abdul Hamid and to prepare a strong offer that would make this Jewish state part of the interests of the Ottoman Empire and an important opportunity for the Sultan.
The summary of the offer presented by Herzl was that the Jewish state in Palestine—and of course, Herzl, when presenting to Sultan Abdul Hamid, positioned this Jewish state away from Jerusalem, as Herzl did not dare to talk about establishing a Jewish state in Jerusalem, but east of Jerusalem—therefore, the summary of his offer was as follows:
First: That this state represents strong support and backing for the Ottoman Empire. When Herzl spoke, he said that Jews still hold gratitude toward Muslims and the Ottoman Empire, because Jews were under continuous persecution in Europe, and they never found refuge or normal life except under Muslims. Jews had often sought refuge in Islamic lands when they fled from the Inquisition or from religious persecution in Europe. Therefore, Jews are the most loyal minorities to Muslims, and they are looking in this world for protection for them, and hopefully it would be Sultan Abdul Hamid II. This was Herzl’s speech.
Second: That if Jews had a state in the Levant region, this state would be a stumbling block before European colonialism, before the expansion of Europeans and their influence, and would even be support for Ottoman Islamic influence, as it is inconceivable that Jews would side with those who persecuted them against those under whom they lived safely and naturally.
Third: The presence of Jews brought from Europe and Russia would work on developing and constructing this land—the land of the Levant—they would have capital and European expertise, and would have cheap labor coming from Russia, and this would pour into the Sultanate’s budget in this matter, because the Ottoman Sultanate at that time was weak as we will come to. After that, Herzl supported this offer with generous financial support.
The Ottoman Financial Crisis
First, let us understand the issue of this financial offer: The Ottoman Empire at that time was in a very severe financial predicament. The finances of the Ottoman Empire, we can say, were mortgaged to a European colonial committee—a European committee that controlled the finances of the Ottoman Empire in order to repay debts—because there were many accumulated debts.
Herzl offered twenty million gold liras. Imagine: twenty million gold liras at a time when the annual income of the Ottoman Empire was only eighty thousand liras! Imagine the magnitude!
Herzl said that the Sultan would not find any other entity that could present this financial offer to him, because this land—only Jews would buy it—so Jews are buying land that no one else cares about, and thus this could save the Ottomans from the European claw—which is the claw of European debts and the claw of European colonialism.
Above all, Herzl would also make efforts to calm the Armenians and calm Armenian leaders in Europe. Of course, at that time there was a strong rebellion in Armenian areas, and this rebellion was exploited by European countries to try to divide the Ottoman Empire, and to grant Armenians self-rule. Herzl also offered that he would make his media efforts in defending Ottoman policy and improving the image of the Ottoman Sultan in the Western press. Of course, the Western press at that time was ceaselessly distorting Sultan Abdul Hamid and the Ottoman Empire and inciting against him.
The Sultan’s Famous Refusal
This is the offer in which political, economic, and media interests combine. But Abdul Hamid refused this offer, and told Herzl—or informed him—his famous words which Herzl recorded in his memoirs. Abdul Hamid said to him:
“I cannot sell even a foot of the country, because it is not mine but my people’s. My people have obtained this empire by shedding their blood, and they have nourished it afterward with their blood, and we will cover it with our blood before we allow anyone to usurp it from us. Let the Jews keep their billions, for if the empire is divided, Jews may get Palestine without compensation, but it will not be divided except over our corpses, and I will not accept our dissection for any purpose“
But with this refusal, Abdul Hamid—and Abdul Hamid was of course a shrewd politician—wanted to exploit Herzl and exploit his energy and exploit his connections, so he did not cut the thread with him. He directed to him—leaked to him through Izzet Pasha—this Izzet Pasha was a close advisor to Abdul Hamid, and Izzet Pasha was an Arab from Damascus—so Izzet Pasha leaked to him to tempt him—tempt him with a second attempt—such as Jews buying Cyprus.
Cyprus was occupied by the English at that time, so he hinted to him that if Jews bought Cyprus and gifted it to the Sultan with more money, perhaps something of this could be exchanged for the land of Palestine. And this idea actually shone in Herzl’s head.
The Sultan’s Strategic Maneuvers
Of course, he asked him to calm the Armenian leaders and calm the European newspapers, and indeed Herzl made a strong effort in this, because he was hopeful that this would bring him closer to his purpose in establishing the Jewish state. And Herzl spent a period supporting the Ottoman Empire and supporting Abdul Hamid, and was fearful of European countries thinking about deposing Abdul Hamid and conspiring against him, because deposing Abdul Hamid would harm the Zionist movement, how so?
Because if Western countries deposed Abdul Hamid and brought a next sultan—meaning if the next sultan came with the support of Western countries—he would not need the money of Jews, and thus would not think about this Jewish state or the Jewish state project.
For this—for that reason—Herzl stood with the Ottoman Empire and with Abdul Hamid, stood with it in its war against Greece, and Greece was supported by Russia at that time. And he launched a medical and financial campaign to help the Ottomans and Ottoman soldiers, and established a newspaper supporting the Ottoman position. And Abdul Hamid gave him a medal in appreciation of these efforts and to tempt him for more of them.
Of course, Herzl also, for his part, did not cease presenting the idea of the Jewish state, and each time he would lighten and give up some conditions. It even reached the point where he thought about offering Sultan Abdul Hamid that the Sultan himself would take the presidency of the Zionist movement, and that he would announce that he is presenting Palestine as a province under his complete sovereignty to the Jews, in exchange for one million pounds annually. So the idea was that Abdul Hamid is a protector of Jews and cares for Jews and will receive Jews in Palestine under his complete sovereignty, in exchange for one million pounds annually.
The Sultan’s Successful Resistance
When we look at the chapters of the story, we will see that Sultan Abdul Hamid was able to exploit Herzl and his effort, and Herzl could not take anything from Abdul Hamid. He only took a medal. On the contrary, Abdul Hamid at the same time continued his effort in combating Jewish settlement in Palestine.
And we will see a number of measures taken by Abdul Hamid. Now we will talk about the measures that Abdul Hamid took after the establishment of the Zionist movement. We talked in the article before last about the measures taken by the Ottoman sultans, including Abdul Hamid, before the appearance of Herzl, so now let us discuss the Ottoman resistance or Abdul Hamid’s resistance to the Zionist movement.
We will find first: He formed a special committee in Jerusalem to oversee the application of restrictions on Jews entering the country. This was in 1897.
1898: He issued instructions prohibiting foreign Jews from entering Palestine except by paying a security deposit and providing a pledge to leave within a month. Port authorities were strict in this, so that even the English vice-consul in Antioch was not allowed to stay longer than this because he was Jewish, even though he was an English consul.
Abdul Hamid tasked a committee called the “Jerusalem Committee” to prepare a report on the loopholes that Jews exploit to enter the country. This committee submitted its report—submitted a memorandum in September 1899—studied the conditions and presented some suggestions and recommendations.
Abdul Hamid issued a law to regulate Jewish visits to Jerusalem in 1901. This law requires Jews to carry a transit ticket—similar to a passport now—containing details of the trip and its duration, and this passport is delivered in exchange for obtaining a temporary residence with a distinctive color not exceeding three months, so that this color can perceive the time of entry.
In 1904, he reinstated the law prohibiting the sale of lands to Jews of all nationalities.
1906: Abdul Hamid rejected the Hebrew University project presented by Herzl—I will come to this shortly, but remember it with me for now.
In the same year—1906—Abdul Hamid dismissed the governor of Jerusalem—a man named Rashid Pasha—complaints were repeated about him because he was conciliatory toward Jews in his policy, and appointed instead another man named Akram Bey. This man made a great effort in confronting Jewish immigration and in developing the city of Jerusalem, and stood firmly against the pressures of those who benefited from Jewish immigration, whether foreign beneficiaries or corrupt officials.
In September 1907, Abdul Hamid issued an order prohibiting the transfer of ownership of miri lands to Ottoman Jews. This hampered the work of foreign banks in buying Palestinian lands. Ottoman Jews were prevented from buying miri lands, which belonged to the state.
In the late days of his reign—1908—Abdul Hamid appointed his secretaries as governors of Jerusalem so that the matter would be closer to his view through these close ones to him.
An Unexpected Challenge
Abdul Hamid made many and great efforts. For those who wish to expand on them and learn about their details, I recommend referring to the study of Dr. Abdel-Aziz Awad “Jewish Migration to Palestine and the Position of the Ottoman Empire on It,” published in the Journal of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Riyadh in 1974, and Dr. Naela Al-Waari’s book “The Role of Foreign Consulates in Jewish Migration and Settlement in Palestine,” and the book by historian Professor Muhammad Shaaban Sawan “The Sultan and History.”
But here we have a shocking surprise, an unpleasant surprise: These great and sincere efforts of Abdul Hamid did not yield their desired fruit; rather, the number of Jews in Palestine doubled during Abdul Hamid’s era. This is confirmed by the study of Dr. Abdel-Aziz Awad and the study of Dr. Naela Al-Waari.
The question: What are the reasons for this failure? Of course, there are two reasons we mentioned previously, we said: Administrative corruption widespread in the late era of the Ottoman Empire, and foreign pressures and the influence of consuls, because they cooperated—these countries and their consuls cooperated—on granting documents to Jews or extending foreign protection to Jews.
The Ottoman Empire—with all regret—in the time of its weakness was pervaded by the diseases of old age, so its ability to resist foreign pressures was weak, and its ability to reform the administrative apparatus was also weak. Therefore, these efforts failed.
Factors Contributing to Jewish Population Growth
But we have other reasons besides these two reasons. For example, among the reasons that are not clear except upon scrutiny: The natural growth of the Jewish population. And these Jews were naturally moving within Ottoman territories. For example, at that time Egypt was occupied, Tunisia was occupied, and Algeria was occupied. The Ottoman Empire did not recognize this occupation and did not acknowledge it, and continued to see that this land was occupied land, and thus the people in these countries had Ottoman citizenship.
Therefore, the movement of Jews from these countries for pilgrimage and visitation to Jerusalem was not forbidden and was not prohibited. Therefore, there were cases as if it was a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as if it was a visit, but ended with residence and settlement.
Therefore, there is a division among historians: Did Abdul Hamid succeed in repelling Jewish immigration to Palestine or did he not succeed? The summary of this dispute is as follows:
Whoever looks at the numbers—that is, looks at the numbers alone—will conclude that Abdul Hamid and the Ottomans did not succeed in repelling Jewish immigration, because the numbers doubled. He might even accuse the Sultan and accuse the Ottomans of facilitating immigration to Palestine—Jewish immigration to Palestine.
On the other hand, whoever looks at the percentage of Jews who were able to settle in Palestine and compares it to the percentage of waves of Jewish immigration coming from Russia supported by foreign machinations, will see that this percentage did not exceed two and a half percent in the largest estimates. Whoever takes this view will conclude that Abdul Hamid succeeded and the Ottomans succeeded in repelling Jewish immigration and protecting Palestine. Without these measures, this Jewish influx would have filled the world… would have filled Palestine.
Therefore, for those who would like to see the details of this point, I refer them to the book by historian Professor Muhammad Shaaban Sawan “The Sultan and History.” Truly from what I’ve seen, he collected these different factors and narrated them in an orderly and organized manner, in a way I have not seen in another source.
Herzl’s Final Years and Death
The clear and confirmed conclusion is that Abdul Hamid II was a great barrier obstructing the establishment of any Jewish state. Herzl in his memoirs repeatedly expressed his resentment toward Abdul Hamid, and said that Abdul Hamid deceived him and exploited him and gave him nothing.
On some occasions, Herzl offered to give the Ottoman Empire three million francs without compensation, just to confirm goodwill—Herzl’s goodwill, the goodwill of the Zionist movement toward the Ottoman Sultanate—the Sultan became angry and refused his money and cut communication with him.
Later, Herzl made another offer: to establish a Jewish university in Jerusalem without compensation, meaning that Jews would bear the cost of establishing a Jewish university in Jerusalem. What’s the temptation here? The temptation here is that it’s an advanced university under Ottoman control, bringing the best Jewish European professors from the finest Western universities, representing a scientific stronghold.
What is the benefit of this for the Sultan? That this advanced university in Palestine would attract Ottoman students, and thus wealthy and rich Ottoman students would not have to go to the West. If they went to the West, they would fall under Western influence, and be drawn to opposing the Sultan, because Sultan Abdul Hamid was suffering from movements of youth influenced by the West leading an opposition movement against him from France and from Europe. Therefore, this temptation of having a university on advanced Western standards but existing under his sovereignty and also free and to be taken care of by Jews as well.
The Sultan also refused the university request, as he saw in it a dangerous Jewish attempt to penetrate the Arab Muslim society in Palestine.
In the end, Herzl in the last days of his life began thinking and leaning toward blowing up Yildiz Palace—which is the ruling palace—and assassinating Abdul Hamid, because he hoped that this would open the way for another Turkish government that would agree to grant Palestine to Jews. He was inclined to that had he not been afraid of the consequences of failure, and that failure would destroy this project.
The Fall of Sultan Abdul Hamid
Later, the coup against Abdul Hamid took place in 1909. Abdul Hamid himself saw that the most important reason for this coup was Abdul Hamid’s stand against Jewish migration to Palestine. And he saw that Palestine would be surrendered if the Sultan lost his throne. And this is indeed what happened: with the fall of Abdul Hamid, the door was opened to Jewish immigration in general.
There is a very important statement by researcher Awni Farsakh in his excellent book “Challenge and Response in the Arab-Zionist Conflict.” This statement summarizes the difference between Abdul Hamid and those after him, saying that Abdul Hamid’s positions were principled and strategic even if under pressures there were forced and tactical retreats, but the positions of those after him were utilitarian, not principled. They were generally lenient with Zionist immigration, unless they saw danger in it, then they would tighten it forcibly and tactically.
But here we have another surprise: When Abdul Hamid was deposed, the Zionist movement was in a phase of confusion and chaos, because its leader Herzl had died.
Indeed, Herzl died five years before Abdul Hamid was deposed. Herzl died in 1904, and was at that time 44 years old. Despite this short life, he was able to carve his name for hundreds of years, because he was able to be the seed for achieving this dream that had failed for 3,000 years.
Herzl’s Legacy and the Future of Zionism
Herzl anticipated that the first Zionist Congress—which was in Basel in 1897—that this was the seed of the state that would be established, as he said, after five years or after fifty years at most. And indeed, his expectation was correct, because the Jewish state was established after fifty years indeed from this conference.
And he recorded in his diaries that the establishment of a state lies in the will of the people to establish a state, rather it lies in the will of an individual strong enough.
After Herzl’s death, as we mentioned, the Zionist movement was exposed to confusion and disorder, as it was then led by men who were not of the same ability or intelligence or talent or activity. David Wolffsohn took over from 1905 to 1911, and another one named Otto Warburg from 1911 to 1920.
But by 1920, the Zionist movement regained its strength and activity when a strong man took charge, that is Chaim Weizmann, who would later become the first president of Israel. This proved that he was no less efficient or persistent than Herzl, and he was also able to lead this dream until it was realized in his lifetime. He was the first president of the State of Israel when it was declared.
This disorder and this confusion that spread in the Zionist movement is one of the strongest evidences that this movement was not strong enough on its own to succeed in the project of establishing a state—a huge project. In truth, it succeeded by the action of European imperial powers. You can imagine: How could a movement whose march effectively stopped for 16 years after the death of its founder, accomplish a huge project like establishing a country and establishing a state?
We state this truth that Zionism could not have established a state, but this does not diminish the enormous effort made by Chaim Weizmann. Just as Zionism cannot establish a homeland with its own power, Western colonialism will not be able to breathe life into a dead body. It will not be able to revive activity in a lazy, lethargic entity.
But Weizmann was luckier than Herzl, because the conditions and winds in his days were flowing as his ship desired, unlike Herzl’s days. Herzl had Abdul Hamid, but Chaim Weizmann lived in a time of the destabilization of the Ottoman Caliphate after the coup against Abdul Hamid and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and British forces themselves came to occupy Palestine and Iraq and dominate East Jordan. Thus, the strong barrier that was standing against the emergence of Israel was removed, and the strong supporter who would sponsor the establishment of this state was also present.
The Shift in Zionist Strategy
For this reason, we will find here that the policy adopted by the Zionist movement changed. In the time of the Ottoman Empire when there was an intelligent and strong sultan, Herzl categorically refused for Jews to infiltrate and appear as illegal immigrants, so that they would not be easily uprooted and to make it easier to attract immigrants to them.
But now after his deposition, the Zionist Conference adopted a plan of continuing slow infiltration. The Eighth Zionist Congress was in The Hague in 1907, adopted a plan of continuing slow infiltration so that Zionism would have a presence to pressure with—even on the Ottoman Empire—and to request international protection with it. And also the Ninth Zionist Congress—which was in Hamburg in 1909—and the Tenth—was in Basel in 1911—also confirmed this plan.
Here perhaps someone asks an important question: Where was the Palestinian society in all these events? What was the shape of this society? What was its nature? Why was its fate being decided in distant capitals—in Istanbul, in London?
This, ALLAH willing, is what we will see in the next article.
I 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 | 5. صراع الرجليْن الخطيريْن.. هرتزل أمام السلطان. YouTube Video.
