Israeli People:
The word “Israel” refers to Jacob (peace be upon him), who was the son of
Isaac and the grandson of Ibrahim (peace be upon them), who was the father of
this nation. Ibrahim was born in the city of Ur of Chaldees, he arrived at the land of Canaan around
the twentieth or twentieth-one
century B.C., after leaving his country along with some members of his family
to worship Allah acting upon the Divine Revelations sent down to him, as his
clan used to worship idols, while he was monotheist. Haran situated in the
eastern north between Euphrates and Khabour, was his first stop, where his
father “Tarih” passed away. He then proceeded till he arrived at Shakim
(Nablus). Ibrahim begot his elder son, Ishmael (peace be upon them) grandfather
of the Arab, from his wife Hajar (peace be upon her), then he had his second
son Isaac (peace be upon him) from his wife Sarah (peace be upon her), who is
the grandfather of the Jews. Isaac then begot Esau and Jacob (Israel), who
begot 12 son, each of whom was a forebear of one of the tribes of the Jews.
Among the sons of Jacob was Joseph (peace be upon them), whose brethrens out of
grudge and envy cast him into a well in the desert, and claimed that he was
killed. Then a group of pedestrians found him, and he was sold to Egyptian
traders, and there Joseph joined in the service of Pharaoh, where he wielded
great authority, thus he sent after his father and brothers. Thereof the family
of Jacob moved to Egypt. No one knows when did the Pharaoh of Egypt turn against
them, and started to subjugate and torture them, till the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) started to think of
emigration. Upon the Mount, Allah inspired Moses to return to Egypt and save
his clan, and take them out of Egypt. Thereof Moses and Haroun (peace be upon them) returned to Egypt
to get their clan out, and henceforth the travel of dispersion began, which was
around the year 1227 B.C.. During that period the people of Moses renegaded and
worshipped the calf, upon which the Ten Commandments were descended, then the
people of Israel remained in a state of stray for forty years.
·
The Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) had sent more than one scout to
(explore) situations in Canaan lands, who returned to inform him that Canaan is
an affluent land, outpouring with milk and honey. Despite this, its people were
strong and the Israelis had no power to contend with them.
·
When the Israelis took the decision to enter the land
of Canaan, they encountered a tough resistance from the inhabitants of the
north region, thus they had to venture eastward, crossing east of Jordan first,
where Moses (peace be upon him) died. Thereby Prophet “Yousha’ Bin Noon
(Joshua) took over the leadership, who insisted on fighting. The first city
that the Israelis first trod on was “Ariha”, where they besieged it till it
fell into their hands. Then they laid their hands on most of the north of
Palestine. While the Canaanites retained a part of it, as for the rest of
Palestinians they retained the western part. Ever since the era of Judges,
which was the period succeeding the death of Yousha’ (Joshua), the three
nations coexisted for hundreds of years, which was penetrated by a series of
Canaanite-Israeli wars, and Palestinian-Israeli war. That era extended over a century and a
half, during which 12 judges had ruled, last of whom was Samuel. Then the
Isrealis had agreed upon appointing Saul as their king, under recommendation of
Samuel himself, and that to unite their tribes under one entity. Though he died
in one of the battles against the Palestinians. He was then succeeded by
Prophet and King David (peace be upon him) (1010 B.C. – 971 B.C.), followed by
his son Prophet Solomon (971 B.C. – 931 B.C.) (peace be upon him), whose era
was marked by peace not war.). Moreover he was characterized by sagacity, and
his commercial activity. On the year 724 B.C. the Israeli entity got vanquished
on the hands of the Assyrians. Then came Nebuchadnezzar, who defeated the
Assyrians and founded the Chaldean Empire, that ruled Palestine.
The Persian Empire
550 B.C. – 330 B.C.: the
Persian Empire and the Era of Alexander the Great
It is considered the heir of Assyria; it was founded
by its earlier monarchs: Cyrus, king
Cambyses, and Darius I. The Persian realm extended from Aeja sea westward to
the Indian boundaries in the east, and from the southward of Egypt to the Black
sea and the Caucasus Mountains in the north. When king Darius ascended the
throne, he divided the empire into 20 states, each state had a governor,
appointed by him. Hence Palestine was a part of the fifth state that was then
known by its aramean name “Abr Nahra”, meaning “overseas”. The river pointed
to, is the Euphrates river. That state constituted then the whole of Bilad
Al-Sham that was formed of Syria, Cyprus, and Phoenicia.
330 B.C. – 63 B.C.
In the year 334 B.C., Alexander the Great of Macedon
crossed the sea to Asia Minor, where he achieved the first victory against the
Persians in the battle of Granicus, and in the same year he conquered the king
of the Persians in the battle of Issus in Cilicia. Then he headed towards the
south near the coasts of Bilad Al-Sham, out of desire to destroy the naval
Phoenician fleet, upon which the Persians depended in the eastern part of the
Mediterranean sea, thus he crossed Mount Taurus, where he founded Miriandos
city, which is now known as Alexandria. He then dispatched a regiment of his
troops to Damascus, which seized it, after that he proceeded to the Syrian
coast and seized it in the winter of the year 332 B.C.. Following his death, the
empire faced lot of wars and internal struggles for the seizure of power, such
struggles led to the establishment of two states: the Seleucid state in Syria, and
the Ptolemaic one in Egypt. In the year 175 B.C., a war in Palestine broke out
between the Macabians and the Seleucids, which lasted for forty years, and
terminated by the foundation of the Hashmonian dynasty that was exterminated at
the hands of Pompey on the year 63 B.C., when he occupied Jerusalem, rendering
Palestine a part of the Roman Empire, as was the case with the rest of Bilad
Al-Sham.
The Roman Empire
63 B.C. – 636 A.D.
The Romans started to interfere in the affair of the
Seleucid state since the outset of the second century B.C., owing to weakness
and impotence that had befallen the Seleucid state, due to the eternal wars
that it got involved in it, and the triumph of the Romans under the command of
Domitius Ahenobarbus, who defeated King Antiochus III at the Battle of Magnesia
in the year 190 B.C.
Moreover, history recorded that in the year 63 B.C.,
the Romanian troops under the leadership of Pompey entered Jerusalem after a
long siege and a hard fight that left behind it a huge number of dead people,
thereupon Palestine and the west of Syria became a part of the Romanian
province. The first governor that was appointed over Syria was Crassus, then in
the year 57 B.C. Ghabyonous took over the rule of Syria, who had brought back
the administrative regime to Jerusalem. Then in the year 54 B.C. Crassus
returned to the government of Syria. He was a party to what is known as the
First Triumvirate (Roman power-sharing alliance) that was signed between Julius
Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Crassus, by virtue of which power was
split among them . But soon after that, dissension aroused between Pompey and
Caesar, followed by the assassination of Julius Caesar, then one of the
conspirators, who was Crassus became governor over Syria (44 B.C.- 42B.C.). In
the year 42 B.C. Mark Antony and Octavian defeated the murderers of Julius
Caesar. Then the reign of Herod began, who ruled over the area of Jerusalem and
Palestine, his rule lasted from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C.. Before his death, he
nominated Antipas as his successor to the throne, who reigned over the greatest
part of Palestine, his monarchy lasted from 4 B.C till 39 B.C.. It is recorded
that he made of Tiberias city his metropolis. In the year 41 A.D. Palestine
became a Romanian state.
The Rise of Christianity
Jesus Christ
(peace be upon him) was born in Bethlehem in the year 4 B.C.. this period
was divided into three phases.
·
The first phase that followed the time of Christ,
which is called the era of messengers (30 – 95 A.D.)
·
The second phase that extended over a century starting
from the end of the first century to the end of the second century, it is
marked by the embracement of Constantine the Great to Christianity in the year
312.
·
The third phase is marked by the eruption of an
internal revolution in the second half of the third century against the Romans
led by king of tadmuriyah Odenathus and his widow “Zenobia” after his death .
In the year 272 A.D., the Roman emperor Aurelian managed to quell this revolt,
at the expense of Tadmuriyah.
In the year 395 A.D. the Romanian empire was split
into two parts: an eastern part, and a western one. Where Theodosius the Great
appointed his son Arcadius emperor of the East, and ordered that he should be
an independent ruler, he took charge in the year 395 till 408 A.D., he also
nominated his second son “Honorius” emperor of the west, and he ascended the
throne in the year 395 A.D. till 423 A.D.
Worth mentioning here, is that after the reign of
Constantine and till the year 527 A.D., around 17 emperors ascended the throne,
four among them usurped the throne.
It is recorded that emperor Justinian II ascended the
Byzantine throne in the period (565 – 578 A.D.), then he appointed Tiberius as
his successor (578 – 582), followed by Maurice (582 – 602 A.D.), then Phocas
(602 – 610 A.D.), then Heraclius (610 – 641 A.D.).
Wars between the Byzantines and the Sassanids had
oscillated between severe and subdued, where many truces and treaties were
concluded between them, but no sooner a treaty was signed than it was revoked,
and war broke.
For in the years 610 – 622 A.D. the Persians launched
attacks against the Romans, and they achieved triumph in their campaigns, thus
in the year (614) they usurped Antakya, Damascus, and Jerusalem. But the
continuous state of war and other matters had drained the two empires, thus
they could not confront the Arabs, who put an end to the Sassanian state, and
took over Bilad Al-Sham, and Egypt from the Byzantines in the conclusive battle
called “Yarmuk” (15 A.H./636 A.D.).
The Islamic Arabic
Conquest
With the outset of the era of conquests, the Islamic
troops headed towards Bilad Al-Sham; the first city that was opened by the
Muslims was Basra, and that was during the rule of ‘Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may
Allah be pleased with him). Then they proceeded to Palestine, where they
confronted the Roman Byzantines in a ferocious battle known by “The Battle of
Ajnadin”, which ended with the victory of the Muslims, and the flee of the
Byzantine troops to the city of Fahl on the eastern Jordan bank nearby Bysan,
there the Islamic army besieged them, ending with the surrender of the people of
Fahl city to the Muslims. In the same year of Jumada I ‘Abu Bakr As-Siddiq)
died, he was succeeded by ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him).
Defeats hailed down on the Romans by the hands of the Muslims, who fought them in
most of Bilad Al-Sham. When news of the defeat of the Romans in the Battle of
Yarmuk reached Heraclius, he departed from Antakya to Constantinople. The
battle took place in the year 636 A.H., the number of Muslims in this battle
did not exceed quarter the number of the Roman soldiers, despite this they
achieved an overwhelming victory. The battle of Yarmuk was the last decisive
battles that took place in Bilad Al-Sham, after it the Roman kingdom dwindled
to be confined only over Jerusalem and Qisarya. The conquest of Jerusalem was
one of the most important targets to the Islamic state at that time. Hence the
Islamic armies besieged the city, but the people of Jerusalem refused to
surrender to ‘Abu ‘Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who
was the leader of the Islamic armies, and demanded that the one with whom they
would hold peace truce, and open the gates of the city to, be ‘Umar bin
Al-Khattab. Thereon, Abu ‘Ubaidah sent a dispatch to ‘Umar, upon which he
headed towards Jerusalem to open its gates to Muslims.
Palestine During the Era
of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs
After the Arabic Islamic conquest of Palestine, it
became a province belonging to the Islamic polity, where it enjoyed under its
umbrella a sort of stability it
had never known before. Before that time it was an area of contention between
the two most powerful empires (the Byzantine empire and the Persian empire).
After the Islamic conquest during the rule of (‘Umar bin Al-Khattab), he
appointed ‘Amr bin Al-‘As (may
Allah be pleased with him) as its governor, he was succeeded by ‘Abdur-Rahman
bin ‘AlKamah Al-Kanany, after his death ‘Al-kamah bin Magzr took over. Such was
the case till the Caliph Uthman bin ‘Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) put
Palestine in charge of Mu‘awiyah bin Abi Sufian , who was the governor of Syria
then.
The Era of the Umayyad
Caliphs
During that era Palestine started a new phase of its
history, when Mu‘awiyah bin Abi Sufian (may Allah be pleased with him) declared
himself Caliph, whereby he founded the rule of the Umayyad Dynasty, which
lasted about 90 years. He started his reign by going to Jerusalem, where he
declared his caliphate in the year 661, then people pledged allegiance to him.
When the
rule devolved to Yazid bin Mu’awiah, internal turmoil started to rise, which
was instigated by his opponents, like Al-Hussain bin ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased
with him), the martyr of Karbala’, and ‘Abdullah bin Az-Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him) who
claimed his right to caliphate after the death of Al-Hussain, thus people of
Hejaz and parts of Iraq rallied around him, causing a fraction in the internal
unity. When Yazid died, the beginning of another sedition started to forge
ahead, as people after his death became more inclined to the side of Ibn
Az-Zubair, except for Syria, which pledged its allegiance to Mu‘awiyah bin Yazid bin Mu‘awiyah, but his reign
did not last long, as he died shortly after his accession to the throne by
forty days. Whereupon the people of Syria sided with bin Az-Zubair, except for
the soldiers of Jordan and Palestine, under the leadership of Hassan bin Malik
bin Al-Kalby, who was biased to Mu’awiah bin Abi Suffian (the Umayyad
Caliphate), thus he set off towards Jordan to be near the scene of events,
after deputing Ruh bin Zinbaa’ Al-Jazamy to take the lead of the soldiers of
Palestine. But soon after, Nathil bin Qayis Al-Jazamy declared his allegiance
to Ibn Az-Zubair and expelled Ruh to Jordan, which was the only party that
still remained with the Umayyad Caliphate. After the Battle of Marj Rahit,
views in Syria settled on Marwan bin Al-Hakam as Caliph, and after him Khalid
bin Yazid bin Mu‘awiyah. Consequently, caliphate returned once again to Abdul
Malik bin Marawan succeeding his father. During the reign of Abdul Malik till
that of his son Hisham bin Abdul Malik, Palestine enjoyed stability and
prosperity, and no grave incident perturbed its tranquility. But with the
advent of the rule of Hisham, weakness started to find its way in the Umayyad
State, and internal conflict started to escalate. The last of the Umayyad
dynasty was Marwan bin Muhammad, whose rule marked the downfall of the Umayyad
era, and the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate.
The Era of the Abbasid
Caliphate
Following the murder of Marwan bin Muhammad,
circumstances made it easy for the Abbasid to impose their control over Syria,
thus the cities started to fall one after the other without the least
resistance. After ‘Abdullah bin ‘Ali succeeded in submitting Damascus to his
power in 16 April 750 A.D., he entered Palestine to begin a new era in the
history of this Arabic land. The Abbasids
followed a tough policy with the rest of Umayyad followers in Syria, but
its people faced such policy with
incessant revolts all along the period of the Abbasid reign, thus Syria was to them
a thorn in its side.
The Tulunid State
The last monarchy during the Abbasid era was full of
many incidents that was marked by lack of stability and devotion from the part
of the Syrians towards the Abbasids. These circumstances subsisted till authority
reverted to Ahmad bin Tulun, the founder of the Tulunid State, which was
established in Egypt in 870 A.D. He wanted to extend his influence on Bilad
Al-Sham on the plea of preserving the Islamic countries from the lurking
Byzantine enemy. Thus he worked on annexing it, and he kept exerting all his
efforts to preserve the Islamic countries till he died in 884, then the rule
devolved to his son “Khumarawaih”, thus the Tulunid State lasted till the
Arabic tribes in Syria started to perform acts opposing to the authority.
Nevertheless, Syria remained subordinate to Baghdad till the rise of the
Ikhshidid State.
The Ikhshidid Rule
It was founded by Abu Bakr bin Tughj, which marked the
beginning of the Ikhshidid reign in Egypt and Syria, Abu Bakr rule lasted till
he died in 946 A.D., his body was transmitted to Jerusalem, where he was
buried. He was succeeded by Abu Al-Qasim Abu Gour.
The Fatimids
The Fatimids era started by establishing their state
in Egypt, and then they set their eyes on Bilad Al-Sham. They succeeded in
extending their realm to Syria by an army led by Jawhar Al-Siqilli during the
reign of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'iz li-Dinillah. This period was marked by
internal disability and wars, owing to both internal and external factors, most
important of which is that the Fatimids State was founded on Shiite basis,
contrary to the sect that was prevalent then in Syria. Such sectarian
difference brought about dissension in both the authority and the government.
Besides other reasons that were manifest in the greed of many sects to usurp
Bilad Al-Sham and assume authority. In addition to the desire of others to be
independent by declaring themselves independent provinces.
The Seljuk State
The Turkish people known as “Seljuk” started to sneak
towards the north of Iraq and Syria in 1067 A.D.. They were not of the same
descent as the Arabic clans in Bilad Al-Sham, but they were rather from
Turkistan, who were new to Islam. They mingled with the people of Syria, and
soon they became the rulers and the army, thus they undertook the
responsibility of defending the country against the Europeans, and Mongol for
around four centuries. They forced their dominion on the region by military
power till the beginning of the twentieth century.
Europeans
The period of the Crusades extended from the year 1095
till 1291, which were military expeditions launched against many targets in the
east. The First Crusade began after the proclamation made by pope Urban II at
Clermont in the year 1095, where he urged for the waging of the Crusades saying
“Christ commands it”. Thus the first Crusades had been mounted on dogmatic
basis under ideological slogans in order to lay hands on the sacred places in
the east, the birthplace of Christianity. The pope deemed that when the western
Catholic Church have the central role in these Crusades, it would be able to
occupy the authoritative posts in the east, whether from the political or
religious aspect, as was the case in the west. The eleventh century witnessed a
religious renaissance on a wide scale, especially among public classes, who had
harbored the idea of the Crusades. For when the call for launching these
military expeditions under the flag of the cross began, it found a great
approval from these classes. As for the popes, their power increased during
that century, and especially during the period of Pope Gregory VII, and after
him, Pope Urban II, who consolidated the power of the church, and saw in the
Crusades a way to strengthening more the sway of the church, besides answering
the demand of the Byzantine emperor, who dispatched asking for their help,
after feeling danger besieging his metropolis, and his inability to ward off
the hazard of losing the sacred places to the Arabs.
Thus Europe during the eleventh century was prepared
both spiritually and physically to accept the idea of the Crusades, owing to
the dire social situations, population increase, and the nature of the
agricultural lands, in addition to the natural disasters and epidemics, not to
mention greed, all these factors aided to instill the idea of the Crusades.
The First Crusades: The First Crusades took
place when the Byzantine Emperor asked for military aid in the form of a
mercenary army to defend his metropolis. Thus the European answer came in the
form of a crusade expedition, which was an unexpected response to the Byzantine
emperor, who thus got entangled in a critical situation. In Clermont (in
France) on November 1095, Pope Urban II had delivered a zealous speech that
flared up the religious emotions of a huge number of spectators, thus before
such huge congregation, he called for carrying the weapon in defense of the
Christians in the east who were oppressed, and in order to deliver Al-Qiyamah
church and eastern Christianity generally. Thereupon, all shouted, “Christ
commands it”, and they thronged around the pope to express their approval and
support, he then promised those who would participate of redemption from sins,
exemption from taxes, and total care of their families during their absence, as
for those who would refrain from participation in the expedition he admonished
them of being shut out from the church. Zeal for this campaign spread from
France till it reached the rest of the European countries. The idea of mounting
a Crusade was strange to the Byzantines whether on the level of the elite or
the commons, for they only were thinking of how to ward off the Seljuk danger,
and they regarded the Crusaders with suspicion and saw in them a group of
barbers of the same sort as the Seljuk who were threatening the east. When the
first Crusade campaign approached Constantine under the leadership of Monk
Peter, its bad reputation had preceded it all along the way from France till
Constantine, thereupon the Emperor, who was known by his cunning, hastened to
divert its course towards the small Asian coast, where they fell as a bait to
the Seljuks, who put them to the sword. After the perishing of the crusade army
under the leadership of Monk Peter in the summer of 1096, mobilization of
forces for the First Crusade began in the west of Europe, which was the biggest
army under joint leadership, such troops had to gather in Constantine before
venturing in the lands under Seljuk control, in this campaign France
constituted the main force in this campaign.
War against the Seljuk began with insubstantial
participation from the Byzantine army. The Crusade troops started to besiege
and occupy provinces that fell one after the other, they then proceeded
northward to Palestine, where they took over (Magharat No’man (No’man cave)),
and committed in it a huge massacre, then on their way to the coast they laid
hold of other districts. After fortifying their posts in Sour, Acre, they
headed to Jerusalem and other sanctified places. They reached the city in May
1099, where they besieged it from 7 May till 15 July 1099, then swarmed inside
the city to commit horrible massacres against the native residents. After
establishing the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the leaders moved to proceed with
their military expeditions all along the coast and inside the countries.
When the Fatimid awoke on the reality of the Crusade
occupation to their Arabic lands, which was too late, they attempted to
confront them, but they were defeated in a terrestrial battle nearby Askalan in
August 1099. The Crusaders then moved to occupy the rest of the coastal cities,
as for Askalan it remained a threat to the Crusade kingdom till the year 1153,
thus when it fell, the whole coast became under the Crusaders control. Over
more than 50 years, fighting between the Fatimid and the Latin kingdom of
Jerusalem did not stop.
The Second Crusades
(1146-1149 A.D.)
During that time, internal struggle between the
Crusaders had reached its peak, besides clashes with the Byzantines, where the
Byzantine Emperor Alexius took advantage of the falling of Bohemond I as
hostage in the hands of the Turkish leader “Amir Malik Ghazi” to usurp Antakya
from him, for after negotiations took place to ransom Bohemond I, Alexius
refused to restore Antakya to him, all this furnished an opportunity to the
Seljuks to regain their lands that they had lost. For in the year 1104, the
Seljuk inflicted upon Bohemond a disgraceful defeat in Harran, where he
forfeited most of the lands that were under his control in Syria. On the other,
the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was expanding in all directions, which caused a
state of uprise in the city of Mosul, where a movement began to take shape in
the year 1113 to unite Islamic provinces in Iraq and Syria for the sake of
uniting efforts to confront the Europeans. Such movement reached its peak
during the time of ‘Imad Al-Din Zinky, who emerged in the years (1127-1146), he
managed to impose his power over the governors of provinces in Iraq and Syria,
except for Damascus. Thus ‘Imad Al-Din Zinky paved the way to a new phase of
confrontation with the Europeans that continued during the time of his son Nour
El-Din Zinky, and after them Salah El-Din Al-Ayyubi till the era of Mamluks,
who had succeeded in putting an end to the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Ayyubid Dynasty
Salah El-Din Yusuf bin Ayyub was born in 1138, in
Tikrit in Iraq, he descended from a Kurdish family. He moved on with his father
to Baalbak in Lebanon, where he was appointed as a military leader during the
era of ‘Imad Al-Din Zinky, then he moved on with his uncle “Assad Al-Din
Shirkuh” to Egypt in the year 1164, who was appointed in the ministry in Cairo,
then Salah El-Din succeeded him. In 1171, he abrogated the Fatimid Caliphate,
and declared his allegiance to the Abbasid Caliph, since then disagreement
aroused between him and ‘Imad Al-Din Zinky, which ended with the death of the
latter.
Afterwards, Salah Al-Din undertook to unite Egypt and
Syria under his leadership, so that he could fulfill his dream of exterminating
the Crusader presence. The year 1187
marked a great historical event, which was the Battle of Hattin that
brought about a turning point in the relation between East and West, in such a
way that placed the Crusade presence in the East in a state of defense.
Following the Battle of Hattin, Salah Al-Din overtook Tiberias, then he
proceeded towards Acre, in addition to Galilee, Nablus, Yafa, Gaza, Ashqelon,
Beirut, and Sayda, which all
yielded to him. After that he retrieved
Al-Naserya, Qysaryah, Safad, Safoureya, Al-Shaqif, and Jabal Al-Tour.
Till he arrived at Al-Quds Al-Shari (Jerusalem), where he besieged it, and
compelled the Crusaders to depart from it by a covenant, and on 27 Rajab (1187
A.D.) he held Jumu‘ah Prayer (Friday Prayer) in Al-Aqsa Masjid. Crusaders then
gathered in three coastal cities: Antakya, Tripoli, and Soor.
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade was led by the strongest European
kings during that time, thus this expedition came after the fall of Jerusalem.
Despite dissensions between kings, this expedition managed to arrive at
Palestine and besiege Acre. Upon which Salah Al-Din mobilized quickly to
besiege the Crusaders, and with the arrival of the French and the English
troops a great battle took place, the mutual siege lasted from August 1189 till
June 1191 to end with the fall of Acre. In September 1192 the two contending
parties, after prolonged negotiations, reached a three years truce, according
to it, a crusade kingdom was established with Acre as its center, and the
Christians were given the right to visit the sacred places in both Al-Quds
Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) and Al-Naserya. After the truce, Salah Al-Din returned
back to Damascus after 20 years of incessant strife to die on 3 March 1193.
Nevertheless, war with Crusaders never stopped, till the reign of Mamluks.
Mamluks
The Mamluks regime was known since the Abbasid era
with its military power, for many of them had come from among the front line
troops to assume authority. After the downfall of the Ayyubid reign this regime
occupied a distinguished position, for the end of Banu Ayyub was by the hands
of the Mamluks, where they founded a kingdom in Egypt and Bilad Al-Sham that
lasted two centuries and a half. The Mamluks succeeded to rescue Egypt at the
last moment, and that after the seventh Crusade Expedition managed to take over
Damietta and was heading towards Cairo, while Al-Salih Ayyub was on his death
bed, who then died, leaving the state to face such threat. Thereupon, the
Mamluks convened and decided to fight the Crusaders, whom they conquered.
During such time, a man called “Baybars” appeared on the scene of events, he
was the real founder of the state of Mamluks. Thus, the Mameluks dominated and
ascended the throne of Egypt while the Ayyubid remained rulers of Great Syria.
But that didn’t last long, because the Mongols, led by “Holaco”, were already
heading eastwards, where they invaded Baghdad and put an end to the Abbasides,
destroying the country and ravaging its civilization in 1260. Then, they moved
to Damascus, which faced the same destiny. They threatened “ Al Sultan Qutuz
who was appointed a ruler in Cairo in (1259-1260). So, Qutuz reunified Muslims
and “Baybars” joined him. They both went forward to fight the Mongols. They
came across their vanguards at Gaza and defeated them and proceeded until their
forces met in “Ein Jalout” (Marj Ben Amer). There, both armies met in a
ferocious battle on 6th September 1260 A.C. where the Mamluks gained
victory. This victory had a historical influence in West Asia. After that,
“Baybars” insisted to put an end to the European existence. So, he assassinated
Qutuz and took over the regime and he was nicknamed Al-Zahir i.e. the
conquering king in (1260-1277).
The Ottoman Era
On the threshold of this period, the Mameluks rule
terminated. Most countries of the Arab world had been annexed to the Ottoman
State, which ruled for about four centuries. The influence of the Ottoman
State, which was centralized in Istanbul, extended to Balqan and Anadul for two
centuries of wars and expansion.
By the existing of this central combating power in the
area, the conflict for domination broke out among three powers, namely: the
Ottoman State, the Safawiya State arising in Tabreez, and the Mamluks. In
August 1514 A.C. the first decisive battle broke out between the Ottoman State
led by “Saleem the First” and the Safwiya State led by Shah Ismail” in
“Jaldiran” near Tabreez. The Ottomans gained victory because of the firearm,
which they excelled in using them.
After two years, the Ottomans defeated the Mamluks in
a decisive battle in (Marj Dabeq) near Aleppo on 23, August 1516. That was the
end of the Mameluk rule when the Ottomans occupied Egypt.
Saleem the First: During the same year,
“Saleem the First” conquered Great Syria without any resistance because the Syrians
hated the Mamluks at that time on one hand and they were afraid of the Ottomans
on the other hand. After the death of “Saleem”, his son, “Soleiman” took over
the rule (1520-1566) and he was nicknamed as the “the legist or the legal
expert or the legal scholar” due
to the multiplicity of laws he had issued in order to organize the affairs of
the State.
During the time of Soleiman, the Ottoman Empire
uniquely flourished and expanded as it extended to include three continents.
Also it inherited the Abbasid Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire so, “Istanbul”
became a center of the Islamic World, and the Islamic Civilization was
rejuvenated. But after the discovery of America and the Cape of Green Hope, as
well as the threshold of European renaissance, the center of power started to
shift to the West.
Zaher Al-Omar Al-Zidany: he was
born in the last decade of the Seventieth century. Following the death of his
father, he assumed responsibility in the two villages called Arbah and Al-Damon
in Palestine. He then started to extend his influence through holding alliance
with Bedouin tribes, on the other hand, He was involved in border conflicts, where
he worked on reinforcing his army and fortifying areas under his rule, taking
advantage of the Turks occupation with their wars with the Russians. Thus he
established a deterrent central force in Palestine, where he took over Haifa,
Yafa, Alid, and Nabulus. After a short while of his rule, which was beset with
conflicts and scrimmages, his power grew weak, and he fell under siege of the
Ottoman fleet, then a great army marched against him, which inflicted on him a
devastating blow. His rule ended with his death, as his sons were not qualified
to assume the reign of power after him, thus the way was open to “Ahmad Al-Jazar”
(Agha) to seize power.
Ahmad Pasha Al-Jazar: Agha
Ahmad (known as Al-Jazar) appeared on the scene of events in Acre, he was a
Mamluk of Bosnian origin. He assumed the government of Sayda and Damascus
intermittently between 1775 till his death in 1804. His rule was characterized
by his hegemony over the local force in Palestine, and Lebanon mountains, he
defied the Ottomans, and annexed
Damascus state to his influence.
Napoleon Bonaparte
expedition (1798 – 1801):
The military expedition that Napoleon mounted against
Egypt and Bilad Al-Sham can be marked as the beginning of the European
colonization of the Arabic territories, following the industrial revolution
that Europe has witnessed. After achieving a victory over the Mamluks and his
entering Cairo in June 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte headed a military expedition to Bilad Al-Sham. The
expedition did not go beyond Palestine, and its coast, except for Al-Naserya
and Tabarya, where it conquered the Ottoman army. The campaign began by
occupying Katyah in Sinai, then it proceeded to Arish Castle. After the passage
of three months, the expedition started to retreat back to Egypt after it
suffered a defeat in Acre in May 1799. In 28 February 1800, the French army
headed by Kléber proceeded towards Asdoud, then to the village of Bayneh,
Al-Ramlah, and Yafa. Moreover, they took over Hifa after a ferocious fight.
They headed towards Acre, which was distinguished by its fortified gates, and
strong fortresses, which stood fast before their attacks. A fierce battle took
place, where the people of Acre with the help of the English troops and some of
the Ottoman troops attacked the French army. Napoleon tried to break into the gates of Acre more than
seven times without succeeding. But soon the Black Death showed its grim face,
claiming the souls of the French army. In May 1800, Napoleon wrote to his
administrative government in Paris, informing them that occupying Acre was not
worth all such losses, thereupon he decided to withdraw back to Egypt to
continue his expedition there. During such time, a dispatch arrived from Paris,
informing Napoleon that it was necessary to return to France, he retreated in
May 1800, after a siege that lasted for 64 days.
Muhammad Ali’s Campaign
After the withdrawal of Napoleon, Al-Jazar returned and imposed his hegemony over the countries, but he
returned more despotic, where he
overburdened the people with more taxes to recompense his losses in wars, but
no sooner had he ascended the throne than he died in 1804. He was succeeded by
his Mamluk Soliman Pasha, who was named Al-‘Adil (the just one) contrary to
Al-Jazar (the butcher), his rule concurred with that of “Muhammad Ali” in Egypt
and Mahmoud II in Istanbul. The reign of Soliman Pasha was characterized by
stability and rebuilding of the country’s infrastructure, till Ibrahim Pasha
came in 1819-1831, who adopted the policy of Al-Jazar, which stirred the wrath of local leaders, who
staged many mutinies. On the first of October 1831, Muhammad Ali mounted an
army towards Palestine under leadership of his son Ibrahim Pasha, who occupied
Gaza, Jaffa (Yafa), Jerusalem, and Galilee without any resistance, and after a
six months siege Acre fell in his hands. He then headed towards Damascus, which
he entered in 14 June 1832, where a battle took place nearby Homs between him
and the Ottoman army that he defeated and took over Halab, Hamah, and Antakya.
Following Billan Battle in 30 June 1832, he delved deep inside Asia Minor
(Anatolia) and defeated the Ottoman at the city of Konieh in 21 December 1832,
where he captivated the great vizier. In the face of such victories, the
European countries intervened for reconciliation, where a treaty was concluded
between the contending parties, known by “Treaty of Kutaya (treaty of May
1833)”, by virtue of which Sultan Mahmoud II acknowledged the hereditary rule
of Muhammad Ali over Egypt and Bilad Al-Sham. Nevertheless, the Egyptian rule
did not last for long (only nine years). For after the Egyptian withdrawal from
the region of Bilad Al-Sham, it returned back under the Ottoman sovereignty
through the intervention of the European countries, on top of which was
Britain, such an act had increased the European leverage in the region, which
was further deepened due to the general weakness that had befallen the
government. The reason behind the attempts of the European countries to
interfere in the internal affairs of this region, and particularly in Bilad
Al-Sham was due to their economic and strategic interests in the East, moreover
they have found in the religious minorities and their civil rights a pretext
for interfering in the internal affairs of the Ottoman rule. Moreover, the
number of European consuls in the sultanate increased, and their leverage
expanded, as their interference reached government, administration, economy,
courts, and the subjects’ affairs. The most prominent among them was the
British consul “Woods”, who acted as an actual governor of the countries under
the cloak of executing the regulations. In addition to this, the European countries
proceeded to spur social, religious, and national sects against the central
government, and stirring up disturbance against it in various areas, all this
with the aim of weakening the government and sharing with it the places of
influence. On the other hand, the consuls of such countries adopted the issues of Christian
minorities, and they extended their protection to the Jewish groups in
Jerusalem and other places, in addition to securing residency to the early
Jewish immigrants. Beside this, missionary movements witnessed a great
increase, where they concentrated their efforts in Jerusalem. By the end of the
Nineteenth century, the percent of missioners compared to that of the
inhabitants in Jerusalem was greater than any other country around the world,
and when it became evident that the Ottoman Empire was sunsetting, everyone
hastened to secure a foothold in it to impose his dominion over a part of its
lands after its division.
We will explore now the period that succeeded the
Islamic rule of Palestine, and the beginning of the appearance of Zionists on
this Arabic territory, depending on our same resource, which is the Palestinian
National information Center that is under Palestinian National Authority. The
Palestinian Center refers to a large number of sources that document this stage
from the history of Palestine which we shall quote at the end. So how did the
Zionist infiltration into the Arab Muslim Palestine start?
