1516 AD - 1839 AD...
From 1516 onward until the beginning of the twentieth century, Palestine came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire (Smith 10). The Ottoman Empire was a Muslim-based empire that expanded into Europe, throughout the Middle East and through northern Africa (10). Palestine was divided into sections called “sanjaks”. Because of the size of the Ottoman Empire and the distance that Palestine was from the capital of Istanbul, the sanjaks were usually controlled by local officials (10). These local leaders were infamous for their exploitation of their subjects, especially non-Muslims. All people living in Palestine during this time were forced to pay exorbitantly high taxes and many of the government services that were supposed to be provided were neglected. In general, the rulers in Istanbul paid very little attention to Palestine and let it fall into poverty because it wasn’t strategically important. This attitude lasted for hundreds of years (Bickerton, Klausner 16).
Overall, religious and social life between people of the three different faiths was peaceful. Although the leaders of the Ottoman Empire still believed that non-Muslims were inferior, they felt that they had a responsibility to protect all the subjects of the empire. Non-Muslims were allowed to hold important positions in the trading business and were seen as a means to make money for the empire (Smith 11). During this time, Europeans began to take interest in Palestine and other Ottoman-controlled lands.
By 1699, Ottoman dominance had begun to wane and they began to draft treaties with European countries in the hope that the treaties would be an effective means by which the non-Muslim populations in the empire would remain content (12). The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the first appearance of this type of treaty and it opened a flood gate, encouraging other European powers to re-claim land within the Ottoman Empire. Many times, these treaties dealt with the lives of the Christian populations in the Ottoman Empire, in which much of Europe had taken an interest (12). By gaining authority over the Christians in the Ottoman Empire, the Europeans were able to get a foothold in many primarily Muslim areas and begin to subvert Ottoman control (12).
Ottoman Soldiers
http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/0005c/0005c05d.jpgIn 1740, the Ottomans signed a treaty with the French that allowed French priests to look after the Roman Catholic populations is Palestine and beyond. This treaty effectively gave Roman Catholics in the Ottoman Empire a higher social standing and they began to flourish under the protection of the French (12). Another similar treaty with Russia in 1774, called the Treaty of Kuchuk Kanarji, gave many of the same rights that Roman Catholics had gained under the French to Greek Orthodox people under the watch of the Russians (12). These treaties allowed European powers to lay claim to vast regions of the Ottoman Empire and gain large amounts of trade from Christian-controlled trading businesses (13). All of these concessions on the part of the Ottomans led to much animosity between Christians and Muslims. During the nineteenth century, as power began to shift in favor of the Europeans/Christians, these animosities boiled over and led to a period of bloodshed (13).
In the nineteenth century, two major things happened that set the stage for the modern day struggle over Israel. The first is British influence over the Ottoman Empire and the effect it had on the formation of Ottoman society. The second is the beginning of the Zionist movement. To understand the British impact on this situation, it is imperative to understand their attitude toward the Ottoman Empire.
Unlike the Russians or the French, the British saw the success of the Ottoman Empire as imperative to the survival of their trade routes (Smith 13). If someone else got control of the trade routes that Great Britain used to get to India, and decided to prevent the British from utilizing them, Great Britain’s trade industry would collapse. So, the British figured that if they encouraged the strength and stability of the Ottoman Empire, they could ensure open trade with India (13). Russia, on the other hand, wanted to expand their empire into southern regions that were controlled by the Ottoman Empire. So, in 1839, with the help of the British Ambassador, Stratford de Redcliffe, Sultan Abdul Medjid declared the Hatti Sharif of Gulhane (17). This declaration contained extremely radical ideologies for the Ottoman Empire. Basically what it declared was that all subjects of the Ottoman Empire would be treated as equals under the law and discrimination based on religious beliefs should be stopped. Because of the status of Jews and Christians at this time under Muslim rule, Muslim people were outraged (17). Muslims were supposed to be the elite and they saw themselves as being well above Jews and Christians. This new declaration was all part of the Tanzimat, the re-structuring of Ottoman society, which was encouraged by the British who hoped that these reforms would help to strengthen the Ottoman Empire. However, the Tanzimat met with a lot of Muslim hostility towards Christians, who Muslims felt had conspired with Great Britain and other European countries to achieve social, political and financial gain (18).
