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Following Napoleon Bonaparte’s unsuccessful siege of Akka (Acre) on
1799, Ahmad Pash al-Jazzar, who fortified the city and scored a
victory over the former, became increasingly conceited, returning to
his oppression against all the Palestinians regardless of religion.
To make things even worse, his successor Mohammad Abu el-Maraq
oppressed the populations of Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramle and Gaza to
the extent that some people were to sell their sons like slaves.
All these ominous developments, including Bonaparte’s botched
military campaign in Palestine happened during the reign of Sultan
Salim III, who was succeeded on 1807 Mustafa 1V for one year to be
replaced on 1810 by the latter’s brother Sultan Mahmoud II on 1808.
During the reign of the latter, Jerusalem faced episodes worth of
being stated, such as the abolishing of the Janizaries [ Turkish
elite troops organized in the 14th century], tracking its men, and
banning the Jerusalemites of referring to them. He even ordered
Orthodox Christians not to renovate any part of the Church of
Sepulchre (Resurrection) or any of their chapels. Sultan Mahmoud
hated them on the belief that Roman monks incited their followers
against the Turkish authorities in El Mora. He even sent a firman to
the deputy of Jerusalem, Mohammad al-Khalidi to kill the monks, but
the latter delayed the firman, and alerted the monks. As of late,
the Sultan cancelled his order. Consequently, al-Khalidi and his
sons were to be received with deference by the monks anywhere they
met them. The picture of Mohammad al-Khalidi is still hung on the
spacious hall of the monastery.
But the Latins were to be adored by the Sultan, who let them to
build new rooms in their abbey, and to renovate their section of the
Sepulchre. Furthermore, he ordered the Muslims to bestow al-Qawooka
on their heads, a head cover they used to put on during the rule of
al-Malek al-Muazzam Eisa.
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