Palestine a Modern History

by Dr. Abdulwahab Said al Kayyli

Chapter 2

CRYSTALLIZATION 1908-1914
By 1908 resentment against the incoming Jews backed by foreign protection, endowed with the privileges and advantages of the Capitulations, began to assume new dimensions. Following the Ottoman Revolution of 1908, a Palestinian newspaper, AI-Asma'i, seized the occasion of parliamentary election, and drew a comparison between conditions of the Palestinian Arab peasant and his Jewish counterpart, then went on to point out the harm done by Jewish immigration:

They harm and do evil to the indigenous population, by relying on the special rights enjoyed by foreign powers in Turkey and on the corruption and treachery of the local administration. In addition they are free from most of the taxes and heavy impositions on Ottoman subjects; they compete with the native population with their labour, and create their own means of sustenance and the (native) population cannot stand up to their competition.(*-1)

As a remedy the paper proposed that its readers buy local rather than foreign products and called upon wealthy Arabs to support development of native commerce and industry.
The Palestinian peasants resented the Jewish colonists and were hostile from the moment of the settler's arrival in some cases.(*-2)
In December, 1908, villagers from Kafr Kama tried to seize some land belonging to J.C.A. in the CAZA of Tiberias.(*-3)

The Land-sellers
Hand in hand with this resentment went the indignation at feudal landowners profiting from land sales to Jews at high prices:
In November, 1908, it was reported that the peasants in the region of Haifa and Tiberias were adopting an aggressive attitude towards Arab landowners with large estates (Mustafa Pasha, Fu'ad Sa'd and the Sursuq family) and also towards Jewish colonies.(*-4)

This raises the issue as to the exact identity of the landowners who profited at the expense of obvious harm done to Arab tenants with utter disregard for the pressure of public opinion against the sale of land to the colonists.
A hitherto unpublished manuscript written by a prominent member of the Khalidi family (*-5) and completed in 1911, sheds light on the general state of political information in Palestine at that time, as well as providing valuable information on Jewish colonies.
This manuscript, entitled al-Mas'ala al-Sahyuniyya (The Zionist Question), left its imprint on a number of individuals who later played key roles in the national movement in Palestine, like Haj Amin al-Husseini.(*-6)
The author started by defining Zionism, its origins, history and aims; the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine being the most important of all aims. With some detail and considerable knowledge, the author described Herzl's efforts, the Zionist Congresses and the institutions designed to serve and achieve Zionist aims. Furthermore, he drew a subtle and definite distinction between Zionist and non Zionist Jews.
After a short account of Jewish history, the author dealt in a careful and informative fashion with the activities of Jewish immigrants and their colonies. The author provided his readers with a list of all the Jewish colonies, the area of each colony, its original name in Arabic, and from whom the land was bought.

In the overwhelming majority of cases the lands were sold by one or the other of the following three categories:
(I) Absentee landlords, mostly Lebanese families - Sursuq, Tayyan, Twainy, Mudawar and others.
(2) The Ottoman Government, apparently through auctions owing to the inability of the Arab peasants to pay their taxes.
(3) The Palestinian landlords, mostly Christian families, - Kassar, Rock, Khoury, Hanna and others.(*-7) Some lands were sold by Muslim Notables, but the author did not always disclose their names.
In two cases, he wrote, "one of the effendis of Safad or Ramleh".
Only three villages were reported to have been sold by the peasants and represented less than 7% of the total land bought by the Jews.
In all, the Jews at that time owned 28 villages and a total area of 279,491 dunum; a fraction of Palestine's cultivable area. In a letter published in al-Ahram on 4 August 1909, a Palestinian studying at al-Azhar accused the Jews of employing devious means; namely, bribing the Ottoman governors of the ancient regime as a means of obtaining land in Palestine. There were other attempts by Palestinians to make capital out of associating the previous regime with concessions made to the Zionists, including laxity in the application of laws regarding Jewish immigration and land acquisition by them. Furthermore, members of the (Ottoman) ruling Committee for Union and Progress, with branches in Palestine, endeavoured to exercise inter-party pressure to draw the attention of the ruling junta to "the danger which menaces the country and the peasants from Jewish immigration".(*-8)

The Forms and Forums of Arab Opposition to Zionism
By the end of 1909 sustained vocal opposition to Zionist immigration had become the order of the day. The mounting Palestinian opposition was promoted and adequately expressed by the only Arabic newspapers in Palestine al-Asmai' and al-Karmal. The editor of the latter paper played a leading role in publicizing the Zionist threat to Palestine and the Palestinians. Najib al-Khuri Nassar, a native of Tiberias, had worked with the Jewish Colonisation Association as an agent and thus was able to speak with authority on the aims and the means of Jewish colonisation in Palestine. He founded al-Karmal (1909) with the express purpose of writing against the Yishuv in Palestine as that the Arabs would not continue to sell land to the Jews.(*-9)
Complaints from Jews about articles which had appeared in al-Karmal resulted in its temporary suspension in the early summer and again in the winter of 1909.
The notables found in the new Ottoman Parliament an opportunity to articulate Palestinian Arab opposition to Zionism and Jewish immigration. At the beginning of June 1909, Hafez Bey al Sa'id, the deputy from Jaffa, submitted a question to the Chamber, asking what Zionism implied and if the national movement of the Jews was compatible with the interests of the Empire. He also demanded that the port of Jaffa be closed to Jewish immigrants.(*-10) Though the forum was modern, the old role of the notable as an intermediary between the ruler and the ruled persisted.

Towards the end of the year there was a note of exasperation in the air.
In October, al-Ahram sent a correspondent to Palestine to report on the local situation. The Palestinians are concerned about the Zionist Movement; constant immigration creates fear and anxiety for the country is now almost in the hands of foreigners."(*-11)
Furthermore, the reporter recorded that the Palestinians accused the Zionist Movement in Palestine of seeking to establish an independent kingdom, and asserted that some rich Jews had undertaken to pay sums of money to the Ottoman Government so that the Ottoman Jews in Palestine would be spared military service and could devote all their efforts towards colonisation, at a time when Muslims and Christians had no alternative but to undergo the hated military service.

Amidst resentment and suspicion of Governmental collusion, a development took place in the same year; opposition to Zionism and Jewish settlement began to assume an organisational form. In October 1909, Albert Antebi observed that a group was being formed among the local population to prevent sales of land to Jews."(*-12)

In addition to the familiar platforms of protest - newspaper articles, and delegations - to the various levels of authority, the year 1910 witnessed the emergence of a call for an Arab boycott of Jewish and businesses in retaliation for Zionist boycott of Arab labour and shops.

In May 1910, the Arab press attacked the Sursuq family for their intention to sell the villages of Fulah and 'Afulah to the Jews. The inhabitants of Nazareth and' Haifa dispatched two telegrams to the Central Government protesting against Jewish land purchases and accusing the Zionists of seeking to deprive the local population of its land.(*-13)
Al-Karmal warned against mortgaging any land with the Anglo-Palestine Company because of its Zionist identity. In the middle of May,a group of Arab deputies demanded an assurance from Tala't Bey that Jews would not be permitted to take possession of the local population's lands and that mass Jewish immigration would not be tolerated.(*-14)
Protestations to the Ottoman authorities were not in vain. When an official of the British Embassy in Constantinople spoke to Tala't Bey about the renewed land restrictions, he was told that they were that they were "the outcome of complaints of the local inhabitants who feared a foreign Jewish invasion".(*-15)
By the summer of 1910, several influential Arabic newspapers in Damascus (al-Muqtabas) and in Beirut (al-Mufid, al-Haqiqa, and al-Ra'i al 'Am) were won over to the campaign against the sale of Arab lands to settlers and became part of the anti-Zionist press campaign.
In some cases Najib Nassar's efforts were instrumental in drawing the attention of the editors to the Zionist danger.(*-16)

During debates in Parliament the Palestinian deputies urged the government to to take action against Jewish immigration and land and were energetically promoting and propagating the notion the incompatibility between Ottoman interests and Zionist aims in Palestine. "During March and April Dr. Jacobson reported from Constantinople that the Arab deputies, especially Ruhi Bey al-Khalidi, were conducting a campaign for new legislation against Jewish immigration into Palestine."(*-17)

Sa'id al-Husseini, deputy of Jerusalem, well-versed in Zionist ideas and activities owing to his proficiency in Hebrew, was another active anti-Zionist. Albert Antebi reported that, since accounts of speeches by Ruhi Khalidi and Shukri al-Assali had spread among the peasants, anti Jewish feeling had widened.'(*-18) A telegram signed by one hundred an fifty Arabs was dispatched from Jaffa to the President of the Chamber, to the Grand Vazir and to various newspapers in protest against the continual purchase of land by Jews and urged Parliament to take steps against Jewish immigration and land purchase.(*-19)

On 24 May 1911, ha-Herut carried the text of a leaflet which proclaimed the emergence of organised Palestinian Arab opposition to Zionism. The leaflet was signed al-Hizb al-Watani al-Uthmani (The Ottoman National Party). The Party addressed itself to the Arabs of Palestine in the following terms:
Zionism is the danger which encompasses our homeland; [Zionism is the awful wave which beats [our] shores; it is the source of the deceitful acts which we experience like a downpour and which are to be feared more than going alone at the dead of night. Not only this; it is also an omen of our future exile from our homeland and of (our) departure from our homes and property.

Suleiman al-Taji al-Farouqi, a founder of the Ottoman Nations Party, sought to mobilise public opinion in the neighbouring Arab districts of the Ottoman Empire against what he and his associate regarded as Zionist invasion. On 19 August 1911, this able writer and poet wrote an important long editorial in al-Mufid, a leading Beirut newspaper run by 'Abdul Ghani al-'Arisi, a prominent political figure Al-Farouqi stated that Palestine had virtually fallen within the sphere of Zionist influence, and that Zionism in Palestine constituted a government within a government with its own laws and courts, its own flag, its own school system etc. Jewish immigrants, he contended, were equipped with education and money, and the Palestinians were threatened with poverty and eviction. These conditions prodded a group of young men to establish; A National (Patriotic) party to promote everything beneficent to the nation, and to direct all efforts towards lawful opposition to the Zionist Movement and fighting it with the weapon of justice, in addition calling the attention of the Ummah (Nation) to the grave consequences and reminding the government of its duties: First, stoppage of immigration by applying the Red Passport.(*-20).
Second, prohibition of sales of land. Third, carrying out a census among the Jews and giving the Ottomans among them clear identity cards. Fourth, imposition of governmental control and official curriculum over their schools. Fifth, prohibition of their special meetings unless they obtain special permission from the authorities in accordance with the laws governing such meetings. Sixth, carrying out land surveys in the colonies, and imposing the various taxes, tithes and Wercos, and reasserting the lost rights of the Treasury.

The growth of Arab opposition to Zionism was reported by the Palestine correspondent of Ha'olam, the central Zionist organ, in the following terms:
The greater force in Palestine is the Arabs...we forgot altogether that there are Arabs in Palestine, and discovered them only in recent years...we paid no attention to them; we never even tried to find friends among them. The greatest enemies of Jewish efforts are the Christian intellectuals among the Arabs.(*-21)

The last sentence was an acknowledgement of the efforts of Najib Nassar, editor of al-karmal, whose unyielding perseverance in combating Zionism was effective in stirring public opinion inside and outside Palestine against Zionist immigration and settlement. On 7 June 1911, Nassar published in al-Karmal an open letter addressed to all newspaper editors who shared his views, suggesting that they unite in a common front against the Zionists. Within a few days his suggestion found support from Taha al-Mudawwar of Beirut's al-Ra i al-'Am who proposed a common stand among the newspapers against Zionist settlement, in an endeavour to bring about appropriate government action to prevent it. On reviewing the Arabic newspapers of the second half of 1911, the reader would readily notice the expanded circle of anti-Zionist articles.

During the same year Najib Nassar also published a book entitled, al-Sahyuniyya: Tarikhuha, Gharaduha, Ahammiyyatuha (Zionism: Its History, Aims, and Importance), where he told his readers that the Zionist Movement rested on a racial base, and its aims were both national and political. He laid stress on its independent institutions, its paramilitary gymnastic societies, its flag and its emblem. After stating that Zionism aimed at gaining "Mastery over our country and the sources of our livelihood', he pointed out that 'unwavering leadership and bold, ambitious plans were required... We the Arabs need to rely upon ourselves and to stop expecting everything from the Government'.
The Palestinians were discovering that the Government was not very keen on protecting them from the Zionist danger. Calls for organisation found receptive ears. After the second debate on Zionism in Parliament, Nassar drew the attention of the readers of al-Karmal to the lax manner in which entry restrictions and regulations were enforced by the Ottoman authorities in Haifa. He succeeded in setting up a citizen's watch committee, which was successful in gaining permission from the Mutasarrif of Acre to supervise the disembarkation of Jews from all ships docking at Haifa in order to see that the entry restrictions were fully implemented. Nassar's efforts left an imprint on a number of Arab journalists, like 'Isa al-'lsa of Falastin and Izzat Darwaza, the writer- politician who played a role in the Arab national movement in Palestine as we shall see later on.
Opposition to Zionism found some expression in literary works like al-Sahir wa al-Yahudi (The Wizard and the Jew) by Is'af Nashashibi, March 1909, and Fatat Sahyun (The Young Girl of Zion) by Maruf al- Arna'ut, November 1911.

By the beginning of 1912 the Zionists were already speaking of"the spirit of enmity which has begun to gain a foothold among the masses in the Mutasarriflik of Jerusalem"(*-22).

The anti-Zionist campaign in the Arabic press continued unabated. Al-Munadi, a newspaper which began to appear in Jerusalem in the spring of 1912, was candidly anti Zionist from its first issue. An article by Muhammad Salah al-Samadi al-Husseini of Jerusalem in al-Rai al 'Am declared that the dangers of Zionism and Jewish immigration were ten-fold. Zionist-inspired Jewish immigration would lead to: Jewish settlement in places of the greatest commercial and strategic importance; the sale of the local population's houses and land; the loss of the most valuable land; the return of the Jew's money to their own pockets through places of entertainment and the like which they would open for the Arabs; the subjugation of the local population to the Jews; the usurpation of all educational affairs by Zionist schools; the theft of industry and trade by Zionist banks and; institutions; the defeat of the most powerful Arab leaders; and finally, the economic domination of Palestine through which political power would be generated.'(*-23) Echoing the tone of this article al-Muqtabas alleged in its issue of 25 December 1912, that Zionism sought to destroy the totality of our economics and politics'.

Falastin, which was on its way to becoming the foremost anti-Zionist paper, informed its readers, in its issue of 28 August 1912, that active immigrants own thirty colonies or villages, that immigration is proceeding at a terrific language of the pace and that Hebrew will become the official language of the country someday.
The Zionists have advanced schools and numerous important "newspapers and have powerful societies backing them. The article concluded by exhorting the Arabs of Palestine to wake up to prevent a catastrophe before it is too late.
Three days later the Same paper called for the unity of all Palestinians to combat the Zionist danger.(*-24)

Among the Ottoman provinces Palestine alone was free of the prevailing strife and tension between Muslim and Christian Arab communities due to the Balkan War. The relations between the two communities in Palestine were remarkably good owing to solidarity against the common Zionist danger.
0n 17 November 1912, Falastin published an article accusing the Mutassarrif of complicity in Selling lands to the Jews in the face of Arab opposition and widespread protest. By the end of 1912 Falastin was so outspoken against Zionism that ha-Herut's correspondent in Jaffa called for its boycott.

The pace was set for 1913 by al-Karmal in an editorial of 3 January. That editorial dealt with the general political situation as well as giving an evaluation of the outcome of the paper's four-year campaign against Zionism, It referred to the efforts of some Arab deputies like Shukri al-'Assaly and Ruhi Khalidi in particular to combat Zionism in debates in the Ottoman Parliament.
Then it proceeded to attack other leaders who, while pretending to safeguard the national interests, were in fact indulging in brokerage and sales of land to the Zionists.
The article concluded by stating that "a good number of enlightened people, journalists and (local) government officials, recognised the menacing Zionist danger and were fighting this danger with us".
Throughout the summer of 1913 Syria witnessed a general campaign of protests against the sale of state lands in Beisan to the Jews.
In June Falastin published two telegrams from the leaders of the villages and tribes of Beisan addressed to the Sultan and the Vali of Beirut.
In these telegrams the inhabitants explained that the lands in question were usurped from them and registered in the name of the previous Sultan and that the state was now contemplating selling it to foreigners. The telegram reminded the Sultan that it was the duty of the ruling authorities to safeguard the interests of their subjects whom they taxed and conscripted. "We prefer to die defending our nation and our possessions rather than emigrate to unknown destinations and perish from starvation".(*-25)

On 29 June, Falastin hinted that what Palestine, the "beloved nation", needed was the bliss of independence but that "We dare not spell it out". The same issue carried an article contributed to a reader in which he emphasised that words cannot stand in the face of finance, science, zeal and national solidarity of the Zionists. Only action can stand in the face of action. The writer suggested the establishment of a national Palestinian land company financed by group of wealthy Palestinians to buy lands that were not under cultivation and to exert pressure on the government to confine cultivate land sales to peasants. He concluded by calling for unity and co-operation to defend the country.

In these articles, published in the early part of the second decade, two things merit remark. The first is the implicit and permeating feeling of admiration for the advanced technological and organisational methods employed by the Zionists. The second is the underlying an sometimes explicit realisation that only through acquiring knowledge, skill and organisation could Arab opposition to Zionism be effective.

The First Arab Congress
The political stirrings and cross-currents of political ideas and aspirations culminated in the convening of the First Arab Congress in Paris during June 1913, which included an impressive number of prominent political personalities from the Levant.
It was an attempt at articulating a political programme demanding partnership and equality between the Arabs and the Turks within the Ottoman Empire. Delegates demanded recognition of the Arabs as I nation entitled to autonomy within a decentralised Ottoman state ant to representation on all legislative and executive levels. They also demanded cultural independence and promotion of the Arabic language to the status of an official language.

Among the participants listed in the book published on the proceedings of the Congress, there were a number of Palestinian notables and students. The more striking aspect of the Palestinian presence in the Congress were the telegrams sent from Palestine to the Congress. These telegrams revealed the existence of two literary groups in Jaffa al-Multa' am al-'Adabi(*26)
(The Literary Meeting Place) and al Jam'iyyri al-Khairiyya al-lslamiyya (The Islamic Benevolent Society). Telegrams were also sent by the inhabitants of Nablus and Haifa who pledged their support and called for reform and decentralisation. Other telegrams from the headmen and local notables of Beisan and Jenin urged the Congress to declare its opposition to the sale of lands in their district which they claimed were usurped from them by the Ottoman ANCIEN REGIME. The signatories considered the delegates as 'representative of the Arab Nation', and the loss of the Beisan lands as a threat to the whole Arab Nation.(*27)

It was extraordinary that the First Arab Congress did not discuss fully the Zionist danger in Palestine and that no resolutions were passed in relation to this important and preoccupying issue. The fact was that the incipient Arab national movement was contemplating ways and means to attain political independence for the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. In a paper published in Middle Eastern Studies, Neville Mandel reported contacts between certain members of the Arab Decentralisation
Party and the Zionist Executive. These contacts must be viewed, "within the context of the nationalists' search for allies against the Turks".(*28)

However, the Palestinians were unwilling to endorse the policy of taking the Zionists as temporary allies in the struggle against the Turks. In its issue of 9 July 1913, Falastin rebuked a leading figure of the Arab Congress, Sheikh Ahmad Tabbara, "For he did not mention what dangers were connected with the immigration of the Zionists into the country and what problems for the future are being brought by the Government's attitude on this issue". What is of interest to us in this context is
the degree of Palestinian participation in the attempts at the "Arab-Zionist entente". According to Mandel,some Arab notables were disturbed by the (anti-Zionist) popular mood. One such notable was Nassif Bey al-Khalidi, a native of Jerusalem, who in 1914 was Chief Engineer in Beirut."(*29-) Nassif Bey's efforts to convene an Arab-Zionist conference were unsuccessful.

Zionist contacts with Palestinian Arabs in Constantinople were also abortive. Their demands were unacceptable to the Zionists. The Arabs desired the Zionists:
(i) to assist Arab education, by supplying expertise and funds;
(ii) to give assurances that the fellaheen would not be deprived of all their land or proletarianised by the Jewish settlers; and
(iii) to find large capital sums to finance extensive public-work projects for the development of the Arab provinces.(*30)

In Palestine itself there were unmistakable signs of a hardening of Arab anti-Zionist feeling, in the months immediately following the Congress.
In August, Falastin informed its readers that it had to increase the number of its pages in order to publish the increasing number of petitions and protests against Zionist encroachment. On 12 August, al-Karmal reported in its front page a huge demonstration in Nablus against the intended sale of the Beisan lands to the Jews, where spirited and vehement speeches were delivered, and telegrams of protest dispatched to the authorities. Three days later, al-Karmal proposed that an anti-Zionist congress be held in Nablus to discuss ways and means of combating the Zionist peril. The proposed congress would discuss the establishment of societies to mobilise the people, improve the conditions of the peasant, create wealth and preserve it and encourage the quest for applied (practical) sciences. AI-Karmal argued that promoting the peasant's well-being and dignity would sharpen his sense of duty towards his nation. Knowledge, patriotism and solidarity were not enough to combat the encroaching danger. What was at stake, al-Karmal concluded, was survival and in this context organised and enlightened action alone could save the day.

Many Arab newspapers and a few political groups endorsed al-Karmal's proposed congress. As no enthusiasm was shown by the leading notables, the proposal was not carried out. However, al-Karmal 's agitation for organisation was instrumental in preparing the ground for the emergence of an Anti-Zionist Society with headquarters in Nablus and branches in other Palestinian towns. This Society called for demonstrations against the Government's intended land sales by public auction, dispatched telegrams of protests and proposed that the preservation of the peasant's rights in their lands which were usurped by the Government could be achieved through annual installments. The Anti-Zionist Society led the agitation and struggle against Zionism in Palestine by setting the pace and pattern of articulation from Nablus where no Jewish element or influence existed to counteract the Society's activities. As early as 3 August, Antebi reported that, "The Anti-Zionist Society was gaining adherents and was moving into its active phase."(*31)

Throughout September 1913, Falastin and al-Karmal devoted a great deal of space to Zionist activities in a deliberate attempt designed to inspire a desire for emulation. On 20 September, Falastin reported that a group called The Society of Jewish Youth had been formed to ensure that the Jews boycotted the local population. Less than a month later, the same paper attacked the communal Jewish law courts in Tel-Aviv and some of the Jewish settlements, suggesting that such institutions were laying the basis of "a state within a state in Palestine".
On 4 November al-Karmal published a telegram that declared all those cooperating with the Zionists to be traitors, and on 8 November Suleiman al-Taji Farouqi of the National Ottoman Party, published a poem entitled, THE ZIONIST DANGER. In this poem Farouqi did not merely denounce Jewish designs to usurp Palestine from its inhabitants, but also warned the Turkish rulers and reminded them of their duty to protect Palestine where many holy Muslim sites existed.

The Ottoman authorities were not altogether happy with the vehemence that characterised Arab opposition to Zionism in the Arabic newspapers and took disciplinary action from time to time against these newspapers.

The suspension of Arab papers began to arouse Arab suspicions that the Young Turks and the Zionists were allies in their battle against the incipient Arab national movement and Arab independence.

Organised Anti-Zionism
During the months that preceded the First World War, anti-Zionism in Palestine was at its peak. There was more evidence of organised opposition to Zionism; people who co-operated with the Zionists were unequivocally denounced; the press was extremely vocal against Zionism; and anti Zionism played a prominent part in the campaign of most candidates to the Ottoman Parliament in Palestine.
On 24 February 1914, al-Karmal reported that Arab youth in Constantinople had founded an anti-Zionist Society. Towards the end of April,'Ibry wrote to Dr Ruppin that he was sure that there existed both in Jerusalem and Jaffa special organisation of youth, both Christians and Muslims to fight us throughout Palestine by all means.'(*32)

On 14 June Falastin published a letter from R. Abu alSal'ud which disclosed the names and programmes of four nationalist and welfare societies which had recently been founded in Jerusalem to 'stand in the face of the impending dangers threatening their homeland and save their existence from destruction'. These societies were the following: alJam'iyya al-Khayriyya al-lslamiyya, jamiyyat al-lkha' wal-Afaf, Shirkat al-lqtisad al-Falastini al-'Arabi and Shirkat al-Tijara al-Watania; al-Iqtisadiyya. The correspondent added that a reading club was under way where magazines, newspapers and books would be available for purposes of public education. All the above-mentioned societies preached patriotism, promoted education"(*33) and supported national industries.

In its issue of 21 June, al-lqdam published a letter from Jawdat Qandus which stated that the Palestinian students in Constantinople, together with the youth from Tyre and Marji'yun: established a society whose aim is to unite the word and bring together the hearts of the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular to promote what is good for the country, and in particular, resist Zionism by all our means, if not through finance then through science,literature, and sincerity.

The founders of the Society planned to have headquarters in Jerusalem and branches in all other Palestinian towns. In the same message Qandus stated that the members of the Society were already lobbying the members of Parliament. On 5 May another newspaper, Fata al-Arab reported the existence of a society at al-Azhar called Jam'iat Muqawamat al Sahiyuniyyeen (The Society for Resisting the Zionists) which had been founded by Palestinian students. On 19 July, al-Iqdam published a Manifesto of considerable length issued by the al-Azhar Society at the end of which the aims of the Society were stated:
(1) To oppose the Zionists by all possible means; by awakening public opinion and uniting views on this point; and by propagating the Society's programme among all classes of the Arab nation in general and in Syria and Palestine in particular.
(2) To found branches and societies in all the towns of Syria and Palestine for this purpose.
(3) To endeavour to spread the spirit of unity among all elements of the inhabitants.
(4) To activate and support economic, commercial and agricultural projects and enlighten the ideas of the farmers and peasants that they may be able to protect themselves from the dangers of Zionism.
(5) To make representations before all those interested in question to halt the stream of Zionist immigration.

Also in July, reports were published in ha-Herut of two societies formed under the influence of Najib Nassar. The first, in Beirut made up of a hundred young men from Nablus studying there and was called al-Shabiba al-Nabulsiyya (The Youth of Nablus).(834) Its aims to protect the rights of the Arabs and to agitate for the good of the Arab people and for the good of Syria. The Second Association was a mixed Muslim and Christian society in Haifa called al-Muntada al-Adabi (The Literary Association), whose objectives were openly nationalist and secretly anti Zionist.

In July 1914 Palestinian Arab women emerged on the political scene when they founded Jam'iat al-lhsan al-'Am (Society for Charity) and Jam'iat Yaqzat al-Fatat al-'Arabiyya (Society for the Awakening of the Arab Girl). Both societies were nationalist and advocated support for local industries.(*35)

On 7 July al-Karmal published a General Summons to Palestinians which was received from Jerusalem and presumably distributed by one of the newly founded organisations in that city. The summons reflected the tense political atmosphere that prevailed in the country and attempted to mobilise Palestinian public opinion as a preparation for more drastic action: ..Do you wish to be slaves to the Zionists who have come to kick you out of your country, claiming that it is theirs... Are you, Muslims, Palestinians,.Syrians, Arabs, happy at this?

We shall die rather than let it happen.
The summons then urged the people to undertake the following action:
(1) Apply pressure on the Government to act in accordance with its law stipulating that it is completely forbidden to sell miri (state) lands to foreigners.
(2) Try to develop local (wataniyah) trade and industry. Do not trade except with your own people, as they (the Zionists) do because they do not trade with the Muslim and the Christian.
(3) Do not sell them your lands and use your power to prevent the peasant from selling. Henceforth, scatter the land agents and revile them.
(4) Be concerned to stop, by all means you can, the stream of migration from and to Palestine.
(5) Demand of your awqaf to found Arab religious schools and also other schools for crafts, agriculture and science.
(6) Trust in God and in yourselves; do not trust in the Government because it is occupied with other things. Strive that Arabic will be the language of instruction in schools.
(7)You must implant in the hearts of the local population, especially the youth, love of agricultural work, of trade and industry ... The dangers threatening your country are many the greatest of all is 'the Zionist danger' so beware of it, strive, act and God will favour your deeds.

At the end of the summons al-Karmal inserted its own advice to the organisers:
Mobilize public opinion so that you can achieve these objectives.
You should not blame the Zionists as much as you should blame the leaders of your country and government officials who sell them lands and act as their brokers. Prevent those selling and you will halt the Zionist Movement.

The Summons revealed that as the Palestinians lost hope of any Government action against Zionist encroachment they moved towards self-organisation and self-reliance.

During the first seven months of 1914, the Palestinian Arab press played a key role in mobilising public opinion and preparing the ground for organisational and concerted action against the Zionists. The press assiduously denounced, "Those rich and influential people who were blinded by self interest; they do not see the encircling Zionist danger, and preferred to have a golden present at the expense of a dark future for their sons". (*36) The same article warned that, "he who controls the land and the economy is the real master, and the political sovereign is merely his vassal".

On 2 April 1914, Falastin published an article on 'The Zionist Danger and the Arab Press' where it expressed gratification on witnessing a general anti-Zionist campaign in Cairo, Beirut and Damascus. Falastin paid tribute to the pioneering role of al-Karmal "in the patriotic struggle" against Zionism, which was taken up soon afterwards by Falastin itself as well as al-Muqtabas, al-Ra'i al-'Am, Fatat al-'Arab and al-lslah successively. The article alleged that the few papers that failed to participate in the anti-Zionist campaign were receiving material benefits from the Zionist Movement. The writer of the article was apparently impressed by the participation of the prestigious al-Hilal magazine of Cairo in the fight against Zionism and referred to the long article published by it on the autonomous and totally insulated life led by the Jewish colonists in their settlements. The writer also acknowledged the role of al-lqdam which was the keenest of all in exposing the Zionist danger and stirring public opinion on the issue.

The Electoral Platform of 1914 Al-lqdam was a weekly paper published in Egypt in 1914; the editor was Muhammad alShanti, a Palestinian. For all intents and purposes al-lqdam was a paper devoted to Palestinian affairs and was endowed with a certain immunity on Palestinian issues, since Egypt was not under Ottoman control. From the outset al-lqdam sought to make the Zionist danger the heart of the matter in Palestinian public and political life.
It invited debate and attention through a series of interviews with the notables and political personalities. It was instrumental in bringing to the fore the Zionist danger as the main issue in the Parliamentary elections of 1914.

On the 22 March 1914, al-Iqdam published three interviews with Sa'id Husseini, Ragheb Nashashibi and Salim Husseini. Sa'id Husseini pledged, if elected, to continue the fight against Zionism in Parliament as he had done in the past. He advocated the improvement of the fellah's condition and providing him with ownership titles to the land he looks after in order that he may cling to it and never give it up. He criticised the government for not fighting Zionism, which was a political as well as an economic peril, and warned that negligence would lead to grave consequences.

Ragheb Nashashibi, another incumbent Parliamentary candidate, called for special legislation aimed at the prevention of Zionist acquisition of land in Palestine. He resented the fact that many Zionists were non-Ottoman subjects who exploited the Capitulations, did not speak Arabic, and 'looked at our sons and brethren with contempt'. He pledged to fight Zionism and Zionists without injuring the feeling of Ottoman Jews. Salim Husseini expressed admiration for the Zionists and called for their emulation. He also advocated special legislation to prohibit all land sales.

A week later, al-lqdam published an interview with Khalil Sakakini, 'one of the founders of the Constitutional School in Jerusalem where the spirit of antagonism to Zionist colonialism was being propagated'. In the course of the brief interview Sakakini submitted a profound statement on the nature of the Zionist challenge: The Zionists want to own Palestine, that is, the heart of the Arab countries and the middle link between the Arab peninsula and Africa. Thus, it appears as if they want to break the chain and divide the Arab Nation (al-Ummah al-Arabiyyah) into two sections to prevent its unification and solidarity. The people should be conscious that it possesses a territory and a tongue, and if you want to kill a nation cut her tongue and occupy her territory and this is what the Zionists intend to do with the Arab Nation.

Another political personality, Faydi 'Alami warned that if matters continued to take the same course, The Zionists would own the country and we would be aliens'.
Jamil Husseini put the whole problem, including the dilemma of the notables, in a nutshell: Resisting Zionism is a priority because it is harmful to the inhabitants of the country and aims at dispossessing them of their land. But how can we resist it and fight it when the Government lends its backing and support, and when the inhabitants are simple ignorant people. The Government employees are working in the direction of facilitating a Zionist takeover.

At about the same time a number of notables from Jerusalem, Jaffa and Gaza appealed to the members of al-Muntada al-Adabi in Constantinople and to the Turkish newspaper Pyam. The appeal spoke of the plight of the Palestinian peasant, as well as the merchant and the Government employee, because of Zionist designs and influence. "If sincere people did not come to the rescue of the Palestinians", the appeal asserted, "their fate, will be similar to that of the American Indians. Zionism, a state within the Ottoman state, threatens the very existence of the Arabs in Palestine" (*37)

In mid-April Ahmad al-'Aref, a former member of Parliament, told the editor of al-lqdam that "The sole topic of conversation among Palestinians at present...is the Zionist issue; all are frightened and, scared of it".

On 11 April, Falastin had to publish a supplement,'owing to the great deal of material on the Zionist Movement'. That issue carried an important article on the economic boycotts and pressures applied by the Anglo-Palestine Bank against merchants and businessmen who had signed a telegram of protest against Zionism. The article named the merchants in question, and how they had to withdraw their signatures, and even to deny that they had signed the telegram in the first place, before the boycott of the Bank was lifted. Only one merchant refused to withdraw his signature and continued to suffer from the Bank's boycott. Falastin, then, added that economic boycotts were not new but had become strict of late: Jews do not buy from Muslims and Christians, there is hardly any trace of native labour in Jewish enterprise

On 20 April 1914, the local authorities suspended Falastin on orders received from the Ministry of Interior, on the grounds that an article which had appeared on 4 April was deemed guilty of exacerbating relations between the races. Subsequent to its suspension, Falastin issued a circular to its readers and subscribers which attacked the Government for regarding the Zionists as a race, whereas the paper contended that they were merely a political group. The paper distin- guished between a Jew and a Zionist and blamed Zionism for the prevailing tensions:
Ten years ago the Jews were living as Ottoman brothers loved by all the Ottoman races..living in the same quarters, their children going to the same schools. The Zionists put an end to all that and prevented any intermingling with the indigenous population. They boycotted the Arabic language and the Arab merchants, and declared their intention of taking over the country from its inhabitants.(*38)

The circular quoted Dr. Urbach of the Zionist Movement as saying in Haifa that Zionism should rise against the Arabs, divide them and evict them, thus serving Ottoman interests.

Furthermore, Falastin warned the authorities that Zionism was no longer a ghost but a tangible menace. The central government could suppress Falastin, but there were other patriotic papers to 'carry the torch', and there was the youth of Palestine,"boiling with anxiety over the threatened future".
The British Vice-Consul in Jaffa as well as the Consul in Jerusalem testified that the circular 'faithfully mirrors the growing resentment among the Arabs against the Jewish invasion'.

The anti-Zionist campaign in the press continued unabated until the eve of the First World War in August 1914. However, the outbreak of the War did not stop the Arabs from contemplating action against the Zionists.
According to Pearlman,papers seized by the Turks in 1915 outline a plan for getting rid of Zionism; the colonies were to be razed by fire, and the Jews driven out. The Zionists it was argued were the worst enemies of the Arabs, that was why the Turks were so ready to assist them'.(*40)

The Palestinians came to view the Zionists and the ruling Turkish nationalists as allies against Arab regeneration. It was not surprising that the Palestinians started contemplating violent means to overthrow Turkish hegemony on the eve of World War I as the only effective method of ridding themselves of both hostile forces. The two secret revolutionary organisations al'Ahd and al-Fatat which were active in promoting the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the war comprised many Palestinian Army Officers. Although the Arabs fought on the side of the Allies, the Allied victory brought forth a new occupation by power that had promised the Zionist movement a Jewish national home in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917. The British occupation and rule in Palestine marked a new fateful era in the country's history which forms the subject of the subsequent chapters of this study.

On reviewing the reactions of the various socioeconomic groups Zionism, i.e. Jewish immigration and Jewish settlement between 1881 and 1914, certain patterns emerge. These patterns of reactions were related, by and large, to socioeconomic factors.

The big landowners who were willing to sell their lands to the Zionists were mostly absentee landlords from outside Palestine proper e.g. the Sursuqs or city merchants who had minimal contact with the peasants and no sympathy for their plight. Besides, these two category of landowners did not derive their social power from land ownership.
The traditional land owning families whose social standing depended on their land holdings and who constituted the notables' were reluctant to sell their lands to the Zionists for fear of undermining the base of their status.

Some, like Nassif Khalidi, were disturbed by popular agitation and sought accommodation with the Zionists. However,in much as Zionism aimed at taking over the country, the notables recognised the threat to their existence and position and sought to combat the Zionist peril by performing their role as intermediaries between ruler and ruled. The notables sought to fight Zionism by appealing to the authorities, the Mutasarrif, the central Government and Parliament, to restrict Jewish immigration and prohibit land sale to the Zionists. This role could only be effective, or indeed feasible long as the authorities were willing to respect the notables' appeals and maintain their position in society. Following the Young Turks Revolution, the notables' position and importance in articulating political demands was undermined.

The middle classes, professionals, artisans and literary groups we apprehensive of the professional competition and the political challenge introduced by Zionism in Palestine. Newspaper editors and students belonged to these classes and were instrumental in mobilising the public against the 'Zionist peril' as well as forming the backbone of political and semi-political organisations established to combat Zionism. It was the vocal and active groups of newspapermen and students that were outbidding the notables in the fight against Zionism.

The reaction of the peasants was less sophisticated and more violent as they were the direct victims of Zionist land acquisitions, especially the second aliya and the introduction of Kibush Avodah. Almost attacks on Jewish settlements were undertaken by destitute peasants were evicted as a result of land sales to the Zionists. Thus, within the ranks of the nationalist movement in Palestine, the notables performed the role of the diplomats, the educated middle classes that of the articulators of public opinion and the peasants that the actual fighters in the battle against the Zionist presence.

Notes
1. Neville Mandei, Turks, Arabs and Jewish Immigration into Palestine 1882-1 914, pp.L64d5.
2. H. Frank to Antebi, 8 November 1908, AIU VIII E.25,quoted in Mandel, op. cit., p.168.
3. For clashes between the peasants and the colonists, see Mandel, op. cit., pp.171-9. J.C.A. stands for Jewish Colonisation Association.
4. Ibid.
5. The Manuscript is presented under the custody of Professor Walid Khalidi. The authorship is not definitely known though it is almost certainly that of Ruhi al-Khalidi, a leading politician and intellectualin Palestine in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
6. Interview with Haj Amin el-Husseini, Beirut, Summer 1966.
7. The prefix (al) before family names is henceforth eliminated wherever convenient. It is possible that withholding of these Muslim notables' names was an act of political prudence on the part of the author.
8. 2he Jewish Chronicle, London, 18 June 1909.
9. Mandel, op.cit., p.204. Al-Karmal was founded in Haifa.
10. The Jewish Chronicle, 18 June 1909.
11. AI-Ahmed, 7 October 1909.
12. Albert Antebi to Frank, 18 October 1909, AIU IX E.27 quoted in Mandel, op.cit. p.214.
13. Le Jeune Turc, Constantinople, 7 May 1910.
14. Mandel, op.cit., pp.209-10.
15. 13 June 1910, FO 195/235, Minute on folder to No.25.
16. For Nassar's influence see Falastin (Palestine), 2 April 1914.
17. Arthur Ruppin (Jaffa) to ZCO, 31 March 1911,CZA 22/635, quoted in Mandel, op.cit., p.251.
18. 21 June 1911, JCA 268/enclosure No.195. Ibid pp.268-9.
19. Arthur Ruppin to ZCO, 31 March 19ll,op.cit.,
20. The Red Passport was a measure initiated to stem the flow of immigrants posing as tourists. The original passport of the tourist was retained at the point of entry and a red slip was issued as a receipt
which would entitle the owner to redeem his passport on leaving Palestine.
21. Ha'olam, vol.V (1911), quoted in Moshe Pearlman,'Chapters of Arab-Jewish Diplomacy', in Jewish Social Studies, 1944.
22. See Mandel, op.cit., p.300.
23. Arthur Ruppin to ZAC, 2 May 1912, CZA 23/144 8, quoted in Mandel, op.cit.p.296.
24. Falastin, 24 November 1912, accused the Zionists of sowing the seeds of Muslim Christian strife through publishing letters, under Muslim names, designed to cause ill-will between the two communities.
25. Falastin, 5 June 1913.
26. Very little is known about this society beyond the fact that it included Christians as well as Muslim.
27. For names of participants and texts of telegrams see al-Mu'tamnra al-Arabi al-Awwal (The First Arab Congress) published by the Supreme Committee of the Decentralisation Party in Egypt (Cairo, 1913).
28. Neville Mandel, Attempts at an Arab-Zionist Entente, 1913-1914, Middle Eastern Studies, vol., no.3, April 1965 p.241.
29. Ibid., p.251.
30. Ibid., p.258.
31. Antebi to President of JCA, 31 August 1913, JCA 2681no.218, quoted in Mandel, op.cit., p.390.
32. Quoted in Mandel, op.cit. p.476.
33. An educated Arab, Husni Khayyal, advocated the establishment of a college with Arabic as the language of instruction (aL-lqdam, Cairo, 14 June 1914). An unsigned manifesto distributed in Jerusalem in July 1914 called for the establishment of industrial and agricultural schools
(al-Karmal, 7 July 1914).
34. In June 1914 Nablus's Administrative Council prohibited all sales of land to the Zionists irrespective of their nationality (Falastin, 27 June 1914).
35. AI-Karmal, 7 July 1914.
36. Falastin, 26 March 1914.
37. Falastin, 29 March, 1914.
38. Ibid., 29 April 1914.
39. McGregor to Mallet, 30 April 1914, FO 371/2134/2236, no.31.
40. Jewish Social Studies, p.125.