The previous article tackled al-Quds during the reign of Sultan “Abdul Majid I,” the “Crimean War” which ended with the signing of the “Treaty of Paris” and the defeat of the Russians, then the rule of Sultan “Abdul Aziz” and his reforms, and the transformation of the city in his days into a province with independent governance. There was a reference to the time of the reign of Sultan “Abdul Hamid II” (1876-1909 AD) who witnessed the approval of the country’s constitution and the opening of the “Council of Deputies” (Parliament).Moreover; he refused the immigration of Jews to “Palestine” and their purchase of any of its lands.
In the meantime, the Austro-Hungarian writer and political activist “Theodor Herzl”, the founder of modern political Zionism, known as the “the Father of Modern Zionism”, worked to encourage Jews to immigrate to “Palestine”, in relentless efforts to form a Jewish state; and in his efforts, he was able to reach “Istanbul” the capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1896, where he met, as a journalist, a number of high-ranking figures, presided by the “Grand Vizier” (the highest position under the Ottoman Sultan, enjoying absolute authority, bearing the seal of the Sultanate, and appointed or dismissed by the Ottoman Sultan), where he presented a proposal that the Jews pay the external debt of the Ottoman state in exchange for establishing a homeland for them under its rule.
In 1901, “Herzl” was able to meet the Ottoman Sultan “Abdul Hamid II” but he rejected his offer. The file of documents of the Palestinian issue in Herzl’s letter to Sultan “Abdul Hamid II” in 1896, stated: “Our community wishes to offer a gradual loan of twenty million pounds sterling, based on the tax that the Jewish settlers in “Palestine” pay to His Majesty, this tax, which our community guarantees, amounts to one hundred thousand pounds sterling in the first year, and increases to one million pounds sterling annually. This gradual increase in the tax is linked to the gradual Jewish immigration to “Palestine”. As for the detailed procedure, it will be set in personal meetings held in “Constantinople”; in return, His Majesty grants the following privileges: the Jewish immigration to “Palestine”, which is not only unlimited, but also encouraged by the Sultanate government by all possible means. And the Jewish immigrants are given the autonomy guaranteed in international law: in the constitution, government, and administration of justice in the land allotted to them.
And it must be decided, in the Constantinople negotiations, the precise manner in which the Sultan’s protection will be exercised in Jewish Palestine, and how the Jews will maintain order and law through their own security forces. The agreement may take the following form: His Majesty will issue a gracious invitation to the Jews to return to the land of their fathers; this invitation will have the force of law and will be communicated to the states in advance.” Sultan Abdul Hamid II was overthrown after a coup d’état in the country.
The reign of Abdul Hamid II also witnessed the beginning of the Armenian massacres (1894-1896), resulting in the killing and displacement of hundreds thousands of Armenians, as well as Greeks and Assyrians. In 1909, the massacres were repeated in Cilicia, including the Adana Massacre, which claimed the lives of nearly 30,000 Armenians. However, the most severe massacres of Armenians occurred during World War I; they were subjected to a genocide after being killed and displaced, in one of the largest massacres in human history at the beginning of the 20th century, and is considered the second after the most famous case of massacres known as the Holocaust. This was during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Rashid V (1909-1918). Researchers have estimated the number of Armenian victims between one and one and a half million. During the reign of Muhammad Rashid V, the British commander Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby managed to capture al-Quds, following a fierce battle with the Ottoman forces that were defending it; thus, Jerusalem left Ottoman rule in 1917 after being under it for four centuries (1517-1917).
Stories about beautiful Egypt never end!
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
