These are poetic verses translated from the Turkish language, and their organizer is none other than the poet Rida Tawfiq Buluk Bashi, one of the symbols of the fierce opposition faced by the “last caliphs” of the Ottomans. History books are gathered as having delayed the fall of the Islamic empire for at least a third of a century, while the accounts are divided about his position on Zionist infiltration into Palestine.
The sick man’s heir
The arrival of Abd al-Hamid II to the throne of the Sultanate coincided with the entry of the Ottoman Empire into a phase of dementia that became known as the “sick man”, in contrast to Europe entering a new phase of development and thought, which was broadcast by the French Revolution, and awakened with it the national feelings of the peoples subject to the rule of empires [2] .
Sultan Abdul Hamid II, whose history is counting the first year after a full century of his departure, returned to the fore in recent months, when the deal offered by the administration of US President Donald Trump spurred the Arab countries to accept a final settlement of the Palestinian issue, by bargaining that some history references say that the Sultan The Ottoman Abd al-Hamid II was subjected to it by the founding leaders of the Zionist movement, and his refusal, despite the great temptation presented by the Jews at the time, to forgive Astana from its foreign debts by paying them on its behalf.
Sultan Abdul Hamid refused to give up Jerusalem despite the great temptation presented by the Jews at the time
The Sultan..a demon or a hero?
Despite the conflicting historical narratives between those who “demonized” Sultan Abdul Hamid II and those who dressed him up in the robe of heroism, the return of history to the point from which the Zionist movement’s circle of possession of Palestine and Jerusalem began, restored the novel that Abdul Hamid himself left in his memoirs to the circle of credibility, especially that The story of internal and external conspiracy against this sultan repeated some of its chapters with later leaders of Turkey such as Adnan Menderes, Turgut Ozal, Necmettin Erbakan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan [3] .
In addition to the strategic goal of the European powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, represented in the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire and the division of its lands between colonies and areas of influence for this or that country, the period of the rule of the Sultan and Caliph Abdul Hamid II coincided with the stage of the global Zionist movement – supported by Britain – to acquire Palestine through ownership and settlement, to make it a “Jewish” land when the time comes for the fall of the empire and its dismantling into states.
Schemes faced by the Sultan, who even the references defending him do not find embarrassment in describing him as a dictator and tyrant, for what he has done in disrupting the constitution and freezing the work of the parliament institution through policies and decisions through which he tried to curb the Zionist infiltration into Palestine and resist the pressures and temptations aimed at extracting his approval to Judaize Palestine.
Abdul Hamid II issued laws prohibiting Jewish immigration to Palestine
Firmanas against Zionism
The most important of these steps taken by Abdul Hamid II to repel the Zionist attack, he issued laws preventing Jewish immigration to Palestine, and linking the entry of Jews there to their coming as pilgrims or visitors in return for paying 50 Turkish liras and their commitment to leave the country within 31 days [4] .
The authorities of the Ottoman Empire appointed an administrator directly under the authority of the Sublime Porte in Istanbul, and they deliberately informed the consuls of their annoyance that a subject had exceeded the permitted period of residence in Palestine, while they were strictly forbidding Jews from approaching the Jerusalem area. In fact, the holy city became A military area (Sanjaqa) independent of the Levant region, directly reporting to the Sublime Porte Authority.
The reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II also witnessed the delivery of water to Jerusalem from the waters of “Artas” (a village located in the Bethlehem governorate), in 1901. The history books of Sultan Abdul Hamid II also record that he renovated the Qaitbay Sabil, located between the honorable rock and Bab Al-Qatanin, and built the school. Rashidiya, opposite Bab al-Sahira, outside the wall, and the railway linking the holy city to the coastal “Jaffa” was established during his reign, starting in 1892 [5] .