"Land Matters"
by Russell Cash
Originally Submitted On 04/23/2013 - EKU
Part 3 - Arab Nationalism & The Ottoman Empire
Emerging well before the 19th century, nationalist aspirations swept throughout the world with the help of France’s Napoleon. Arab Nationalism, like Zionism, had its transformations as well as its sub-branches. For the sake of simplicity and comparison this paper will refer to Arab Nationalism and Zionism emerging with reference to religious and cultural ideologies before transforming into political movements. “In the beginning, nationalism manifests itself as a cultural, defense mechanism while later it becomes an expression of the aspirations for a national state.” (Tibi, 1997)
Arabism, or Pan-Arabism, is based off an ideology that sought to unify the Mideast and North African nations under Islam. Arabism was partly already an Islamic ideal, Universalism, as the Quran teaches that one day the entire world will be Muslim. Before Arabism and Arab Nationalism gained any political momentum there was a diverging attitude among the Arab nations under the Ottoman rule. Some believed Islam could coexist with European influence and embraced western thought as well as technology, known as Modernism. More orthodox Muslims were intolerant of the western world and believed Arabic nations should break all ties with Europe and instead concentrate on dismantling the branches of Islam that had succumbed to some secularism.
Muhammad Ali, self-declared ruler of Egypt 1805-1848, was one of the first Arabic leaders to test such nationalist desires in the Mideast. Ali, after transforming Egypt’s military and economy, had set his eyes on Syria, whose ties to the west would prove beneficial to the expanding Egyptian commerce. After the Ottoman Empire refused to give him control of Syria, he took it with force starting the Egypt-Turkish war. Although Ali is not considered the father of Arab nationalism, he believed bolstering ties with the west was important to the survival of the Arab world and placed less emphasis on Islam. His actions influenced the secularism of Arab Nationalism. Ali’s tactics were rather ingenious. Christians in Lebanon and Syria, who had prominent ties to the west, were treated as second class citizens or subjects under Ottoman rule and had to pay additional taxes. Ali won their support by promising a reform that would liberate them from their current status. Ironically, simultaneously, many Christian sects, including protestant missionaries from America, were translating English texts into Arabic, which unintentionally simplified the communication process and helped expand the western sphere of influence through literature and education; precisely what the orthodox Muslims did not want. “It is significant that the early Arab nationalists emerged not from the French but from the American Protestant mission schools, whose activities were less directly tied to colonial aims.” (Tibi, 1997)
Emerging well before the 19th century, nationalist aspirations swept throughout the world with the help of France’s Napoleon. Arab Nationalism, like Zionism, had its transformations as well as its sub-branches. For the sake of simplicity and comparison this paper will refer to Arab Nationalism and Zionism emerging with reference to religious and cultural ideologies before transforming into political movements. “In the beginning, nationalism manifests itself as a cultural, defense mechanism while later it becomes an expression of the aspirations for a national state.” (Tibi, 1997)
Arabism, or Pan-Arabism, is based off an ideology that sought to unify the Mideast and North African nations under Islam. Arabism was partly already an Islamic ideal, Universalism, as the Quran teaches that one day the entire world will be Muslim. Before Arabism and Arab Nationalism gained any political momentum there was a diverging attitude among the Arab nations under the Ottoman rule. Some believed Islam could coexist with European influence and embraced western thought as well as technology, known as Modernism. More orthodox Muslims were intolerant of the western world and believed Arabic nations should break all ties with Europe and instead concentrate on dismantling the branches of Islam that had succumbed to some secularism.
Muhammad Ali, self-declared ruler of Egypt 1805-1848, was one of the first Arabic leaders to test such nationalist desires in the Mideast. Ali, after transforming Egypt’s military and economy, had set his eyes on Syria, whose ties to the west would prove beneficial to the expanding Egyptian commerce. After the Ottoman Empire refused to give him control of Syria, he took it with force starting the Egypt-Turkish war. Although Ali is not considered the father of Arab nationalism, he believed bolstering ties with the west was important to the survival of the Arab world and placed less emphasis on Islam. His actions influenced the secularism of Arab Nationalism. Ali’s tactics were rather ingenious. Christians in Lebanon and Syria, who had prominent ties to the west, were treated as second class citizens or subjects under Ottoman rule and had to pay additional taxes. Ali won their support by promising a reform that would liberate them from their current status. Ironically, simultaneously, many Christian sects, including protestant missionaries from America, were translating English texts into Arabic, which unintentionally simplified the communication process and helped expand the western sphere of influence through literature and education; precisely what the orthodox Muslims did not want. “It is significant that the early Arab nationalists emerged not from the French but from the American Protestant mission schools, whose activities were less directly tied to colonial aims.” (Tibi, 1997)
While one of Ali’s goals from the conquest was to draft more peasants into his military, his ambitions had two major impacts in the area. The first impact was a socioeconomic change, which intended to bring equality among the Arabs, Christians and Jews. This created a more complex society that was increasingly driven by a demand in agriculture. Due to better security, undeveloped land previously controlled by Bedouin tribes was now accessible and successfully turned into citrus orchards which struck British interests and helped open up another corridor of commerce. Likewise, the advances in technology along with Egypt’s influence began to change the way the land of Palestine was being cultivated. The fellahin, however, most on the run to avoid conscription into the military, stayed close to the village centers and did not benefit as much from the changes as did the Jewish, which later played an innovative role in new farming equipment. The second impact led to a cooperative effort by Bedouin tribes, fellahin villagers, and Arab religious/political leaders out of Jerusalem to unite in resistance against the Egyptian occupation. Under Ottoman rule, the Arabs had more privileges that were taken away by Ali, which in their eyes was benefiting the non-Muslim sector more so than them. Thus, the unification of these classes first embodied the Palestinian identity as a unique group located in a specific region, with more in common than just culture. “The tough rule and the new reforms led to the 1834 revolt's outbreak in the heart of the country, uniting dispersed Bedouins, rural sheikhs, urban notables, mountain fellaheen, and Jerusalem religious figures against a common enemy…. It was these groups who would later constitute the Palestinian people.” (Kimmerling, 2003)
By the 1840’s Palestine had fallen back into the hands of the Ottomans but many of the significant changes stayed intact. The increase in innovation had pitted the fellahin in a no win situation. As notable Arab families relied more on technology for agriculture, the role of the subsistence farmer began to fade eventually driving the fellahin into areas the Jewish minorities later controlled, whom they could not work or compete with. “These changes had deep, long-term effects on the Palestinian Arabs even before the Zionists arrived on the scene.” (Kimmerling, 2003)
At the mid part of the 19th century, the Ottomans were faced with two difficult issues. The first concerned how to combat the separate nationalist movements unfolding in its territories and the other was how to better govern and maintain the land it previously controlled along with keeping the agricultural improvements introduced by the Egyptians.. A series of reforms called Tanzimat attempted to address these problems by embodying the idea of the new Ottoman citizen, which intended to give the Ottomans more influence in the daily lives of its people. In short, an Ottoman Jew or Muslim was first an Ottoman over his preference of religion. In other words, all citizens, regardless of religious or cultural influences, were to be centralized under the identity of the Ottoman. However, as the later part of the century unfolded, there was a huge race between Jews and Arabs to establish their culture, predominantly through language, as being dominant and recognized by the Empire. Ironically, the new Tanzimat reforms unintentionally provided Jews and Palestinians the additional liberties to preserve their identities and seek better representation than before.
The second issue Tanzimat intended to resolve was the need for a better system of administration, local government, taxation, and control of land. Of these reforms, none had a greater impact to the Palestinian than the Land Code of 1858. As will be discussed later in detail, the code changed the way land ownership was recognized in the region and ultimately led to an abundance of transactions, claimed illegal by modern Palestinians, in which the rights to the land shifted from the Palestinians to the Jews. However, wishing not to lose out on the agricultural advances in the area and new streams of commerce between Europe, the Ottomans introduced the land code as a way of better controlling the land through taxation, as well as creating a new source of revenue. The Arab notables, wealthier families, and clans, viewed this as a prime opportunity to acquire property and exploit the fellahin. On top of this, to win back the trust of the notables, the Ottomans made many of them local officials and even armed them, which had previously been prohibited under Egyptian rule. Essentially, the Ottomans were helping arm what would become their enemies in the second Arab revolt.
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