Thread: Sultan Abdul-Hamid and the Zionist Colonization of Palestine

Sultan Abdul-Hamid and the Zionist Colonization of Palestine: A Case Study from Jerusalem.By Dr. Hala Fattah

There is a certain school of thought among Zionist historians that detects anti-Semitic overtones in every action or utterance of Muslim rulers of the Middle East.

Sultan Abdul-Hamid II's famous refusal to allow Dr. Theodore Herzl, the founder of Political Zionism, to settle Palestine with Jewish colonists is a case in point.

Herzl probably thought that he was offering the Sultan a bargain, knowing that the Sultan's dearest wish was to rescue the empire from the indebtedness it had fallen into as a result of easy European loans.


Herzl offered to buy up and then turn over the Ottoman Debt to the Sultan's government in return for an Imperial Charter for the Colonization of Palestine by the Jewish people.

For having refused, the Sultan is painted in the lurid colors of the Muslim bigot and presented as the first of a long series of Jewish-hating rulers particularly characteristic of the Muslim Middle East.

And yet, this is far from the truth. The fact that Jews native to the Ottoman empire had long coexisted and made contributions to Ottoman culture is totally ignored, although it was a reality recorded in many of the archives of the provinces of the Ottoman empire.

Ottoman Jerusalem, for instance, was, and is still famous for the coexistence of many different ethnic, religious and confessional groups often living together cheek by jowl.

The reasons for Abdul-Hamid II's decision not to initiate the beginnings of Jewish political settlement in Palestine had to do with the internal or foreign affairs of the empire, and were not based on racial or ethnic bias.

At a time when the multinational Ottoman empire was being torn apart by secessionist movements in the Balkans and East Anatolia, the Turkish government feared the creation of yet another nationality problem .

The Sultan's government also recognized that the venture would sow the seeds for Jewish expansionism that might affect negatively other Ottoman provinces. Finally, the Great Powers posed as the protectors of religious minorities in the empire and the Sultan did not want to provide them with further advantage.

As a result , the Ottomans devised a series of entry restrictions that prohibited all foreign Jews, with the exception of pilgrims, from visiting Palestine.

Through active European involvement, however, European Jews were granted official protection as bona-fide minorities, thereby increasing the number of "native" Jews in Palestine, and thereby flouting Ottoman laws.

In Jerusalem, the governor, Ali Ekrem Bey was hard put to stem the tide of Jewish immigration and often laid the blame for the phenomenal rise of Jewish migrants at the door of foreign Consuls who offered protection to all minorities .

The governor realized that laws were not enough to prevent the sale of land to foreign Jewish settlers because many lands had been acquired by private agreements and the connivance of corrupt officials. Moreover, the local Sephardi community was becoming susceptible to "the winds of change" and falling under the influence of Zionist ideas.

Although he actively fought against these tendencies , in the end Ali Ekrem Bey was forced to conclude that the foreign Consuls had usurped a large role in the conduct of minority relations with the Ottoman state.


Suffice it to say that largely as a result of that foreign interference, by 1908 when Sultan Abdul-Hamid II's rule collapsed, it was estimated that the Jewish population of Palestine had risen to 80,000, three times its number in 1882, when the first entry restrictions were imposed.

And Jews had acquired some 156 square miles of land, setting up 26 colonies.

March 11, 1999

Of Iraqi origin, Dr. Hala Fattah is a historian of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire, especially Iraq. She is the author of The Politics of Regional Trade of Iraq, Arabia and the Gulf, 1745-1900 (S.U.N.Y Press, 1996). Presently, she is an Independent Scholar.

References
Oke, Mim Kemal, "The Ottoman Empire, Zionism and the Question of Palestine" in International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol.14, 1982.

http://www.jerusalemites.org/jerusalem/ottoman/1.htm

Theodore Herzl was refused by the Ottomans.

Suffice it to say that largely as a result of that foreign interference, by 1908 when Sultan Abdul-Hamid II's rule collapsed, it was estimated that the Jewish population of Palestine had risen to 80,000, three times its number in 1882, when the first entry restrictions were imposed.

A bit of population information concerning Palestine's history....

So much for the Claim that the Ottomans gave palestine to Herzl.

This is very informative...............

Originally Posted by Margot

This is very informative...............

Sure it is.

Of course, we are also talking about the same Abdul-Hamid that ordered the Armenian Genocide, are we not?

A massacre of between 80-300,000 Armenians, the attempted destruction and outlawing of the Armenian Catholic Church, and an attempt to solve the "Armenian Question" under the banner of Pan-Islamism.

Yes, a real believer in Brotherhood, and allowing the people of other faiths to have their freedom, that Abdul Hamid II.

Abdul Hamid II, who's "Armenian Question" would be looked at and followed a few decades later, when another leader developed a "final solution".

Originally Posted by Mushroom

Sure it is.

Of course, we are also talking about the same Abdul-Hamid that ordered the Armenian Genocide, are we not?

A massacre of between 80-300,000 Armenians, the attempted destruction and outlawing of the Armenian Catholic Church, and an attempt to solve the "Armenian Question" under the banner of Pan-Islamism.

Yes, a real believer in Brotherhood, and allowing the people of other faiths to have their freedom, that Abdul Hamid II.

Abdul Hamid II, who's "Armenian Question" would be looked at and followed a few decades later, when another leader developed a "final solution".

The same. This is how you cooexist in a Muslim country.

Armenian Revolutionary Federation also known as Tashnak Sutyun which is still a political party in Armenia today organized a failed assasination attempt to Sultan Abdulhamid II in 21st July 1905 in Yildiz/Istanbul.There was not an "armenian question" for Ottoman state.Armenian nationalists prepared their own ends.1915 was just the tip of the iceberg.

I always find it funny the way Turks justify the Armenian genocide.

Yeah, genocide is always a real belly laugh.....