A previous article in our “City of Peace” series discussed the Mamluk Sultanate’s rule over al-Quds, which lasted for over two and a half centuries until the Ottoman conquest. We explored how internal strife and weakness among the Mamluks led to the decline of their state, paving the way for Ottoman expansion. The Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1517 and soon after, in the same year, al-Quds fell under the rule of Sultan Selim I, who ordered the city’s walls to be repaired. Several subsequent sultans continued to show interest in and invest in the city.
When Muhammad Ali Pasha ascended to the throne of Egypt, he sent an army led by his son, Ibrahim Pasha, to Syria. In 1831, Jerusalem came under the control of Muhammad Ali and remained so for a decade until it was returned to the Ottomans in 1841 under Sultan Abdulmejid I.
During the reign of Abdulmejid I (1839-1861), the 31st Ottoman sultan, the Crimean War broke out between the Ottoman Empire and Russia in October 1853, lasting until March 1856. Egypt, Tunisia, Britain, and France supported the Ottomans. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris and a Russian defeat. As a reward, the Ottoman Empire allowed Britain and France to fly their flags over their consulates in al-Quds, a move that angered the city’s inhabitants and its governor, Kamil Pasha.
Under Sultan Abdul Aziz (1861-1876), al-Quds was initially a part of the province of Syria but was granted separate status in 1871 and placed directly under the authority of the Sublime Porte (the Ottoman central government). Abdul Aziz initiated several reforms in al-Quds, including paving the streets and markets, constructing a road connecting the city to Jaffa, and another to Nablus. He also built the Omari Mosque near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909), the last Ottoman sultan to play a significant role in the empire, ascended the throne. During his reign, a constitution was adopted, and the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) was opened, in which al-Quds was represented by a prominent figure, Yusuf Dia al-Khalidi Pasha. One of Abdul Hamid II’s most notable achievements was his refusal to allow Jewish immigration to Palestine and his rejection of land purchases by the Jewish. He permitted Jews to enter the country only for religious purposes and for a maximum stay of three months. In a letter regarding the Sultan’s stance on selling Palestine to the Jews, as documented in the files of the Palestinian cause: “…I cannot sell even an inch of the land! Because it does not belong to me, but to my people. My people acquired this empire by shedding their blood, and they have nurtured it with their blood ever since, and we will cover it with our blood before allowing anyone to seize it from us. Our brigade in Syria and Palestine fought, and our men were killed one after another in Plevna because none of them agreed to surrender, and they preferred to die on the battlefield. The Turkish Empire does not belong to me, but to the Turkish people. I can never give any part of it to anyone. Let the Jews keep their billions. If the empire is divided, the Jews may get Palestine for nothing, but it will only be divided over our dead bodies! And I will never agree to our dissection for any purpose whatsoever!”
“Among the accomplishments of Sultan Abdul Hamid II was the construction of the railway line between Jaffa and al-Quds, the establishment of the municipal hospital west of al-Quds, and the erection of a tall tower on the city wall above the Hebron Gate. It is also noteworthy that he prohibited the introduction of telephones into the country. Sultan Abdul Hamid II was deposed following a coup d’état orchestrated by the Turkish “Committee of Union and Progress.”
Speaking of al-Quds still amazes us for the stories of Beautiful Egypt can never end
