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Palestine became part of
the Ottoman Empire, the last Caliphate Muslim state in 1516 as
part of Syria after the
battle of Marj Dabiq with the Mamlouks.
Acre, a historic city
and harbor, and its environs constituted the northern part of
historic
Palestine, which was the
southern part of Sham (Syria). The Ottomans left Acre under the
control of local
Palestinian princes who recognized the new rulers, and pledged to
maintain
security and collect
taxes from the local population.
Sultan Salim I installed
Tarabai Ben Karaja, from Nablus, as ruler of Sanjak’s Lajoon, which
was Acre affiliated
with. Meanwhile, Jerusalem being an independent Sanjak just north of
Jafa: the rest of
Palestine was included on the new willayat of Beirut—in the Sanjaks
of
Beirut, Acre and Balka (
Nablus). Each Sanjak was divided into Districts and Nahias
(combination of
villages).
The reign of Tarabai’s
son Ahmad was characterized with differences with Fakhr ud-Din, a
Druse feudalist Prince
who dominated Safad, Acre, Nazareth and Haifa. Accordingly Acre
and the rest parts of
northern Palestine were included in the Druse state established by
Fakhr ud-Din in the
early sixteenth century.
Prince Ahmad Tarabai,
backed by the ruler of Gaza, Hasan Pasha, was able to defeat
Fakhr ud-Din in many
battles. The Druse leader fled to Italy in 1613, where he stayed for
five years, but he
returned, with the approval of the Ottoman State, as a ruler of
Jabal
(mountain of) Lebanon.
He then resumed his expansionist policy in northern Palestine, in
the Sanjaks of Safad and
Lajoon, taking over many big cities in the area.
Consequently, Sultan
Murad IV dispatched a military expedition in1633 to stop his
belligerence. He was
captured and sent to the Asetana (Istanbul) where he was hanged in
1635.
The Ottoman State
reorganized the Tanzimat of the Empire, whereby Acre District
alongside Sanjaks of
Beirut and Sidon became part of the newly established willayat Sidon.
Its purpose of the new
Tanzimat was to weaken the power of the Sham’s [Syria] Wali
[Ruler], and to tighten
its grip over Druse and the local princes who succeeded Fakhr
ud-Din in the Mountain
of Lebanon.
During Fakhr ud-Din’s
reign, commercial ties with Europe flourished, and Acre became a
center of trade in
cotton, where cargoes of cotton and bales of its spun threads were
used
to be shipped to France
and Venice. Historian Shihabi has indicated that in 1622 two
French Vessels anchored
in Acre’s Harbor in to load cotton’s cargoes.
Moreover, France used to
import during dry years wheat and rice from Acre and Haifa.
French traveler Fermanel
saw in 1630 some 32 vessels—with tonnage capacity ranging
between 150 to 600 tons
of cargo—were anchoring in the Harbor of Acre to load cargoes
of wheat.
Zaher El Omar holding
sway over the Galilee characterized the period between the second
half of the seventeenth
century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. Trade with
European states
flourished during his reign, and the French vessels used to sail
directly
between Acre and
Marseille.
After series of regional
wars, and the peasant became a soldier, the Ottoman dispatched
naval force under the
leadership of Captain Hasan Pasha who captured Haifa and
besieged Acre forcing
Zaher El Omar to flee, but he was killed in 1775 by one of his
Moroccan soldiers
outside the walls of Acre.
In 1776, the Ottoman
State appointed Ahmad Pasha Al Jazzar as Wali (ruler) to Sidon, but
he made Acre his capital
and enlarged its harbor enabling it to receive big ships, which
contributed to a
prosperous trade’s activities in Acre. Furthermore, he built in Acre
the
famous mosque, which was
named after him. Jazzar’s most prominent achievements were
his defying the French
invasion to the country. When Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Egypt
in 1798, he moved toward
Acre claiming that Jazzar insulted his envoy who proposed the
establishment of good
relations and the improvement of commercial links. The influence of
Jazzar increased after
his successful defense in Acre, and the Ottoman State appointed
him Wali of Sham besides
his Welayat Sidon
In 1831 Mohammad Ali of
Egypt dispatched a military expedition to Palestine, and his son
Ibrahim Pasha captured
Acre. But in 1834 the Palestinians revolted, and by 1840 the
authority of the
Ottomans was fully reestablished.
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