The district was separated from Damascus Eyalet and placed directly under the Ottoman central government in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1841, and formally created as an independent province in 1872 by Grand VizierMahmud Nedim Pasha.[8] Scholars provide a variety of reasons for the separation, including increased European interest in the region, and strengthening of the southern border of the Empire against the Khedivate of Egypt.[8][4] Initially, the Mutasarrifate of Acre and Mutasarrifate of Nablus were combined with the province of Jerusalem, with the combined province being referred to in the register of the court of Jerusalem as the "Jerusalem Eyalet", and referred to by the British consul as creation of "Palestine into a separate eyalet".[4] However, after less than two months,[4] the sanjaks of Nablus and Acre were separated and added to the Vilayet of Beirut, leaving just the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.[9] In 1906, the Kaza of Nazareth was added to the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, as an exclave,[10] primarily in order to allow the issuance of a single tourist permit to Christian travellers.[11] The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I[12] and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA South) set up to replace the Ottoman administration.[13] OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. The military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923.
The political status of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was unique from other Ottoman provinces as it was under the direct authority of the Ottoman capital Constantinople.[5] The inhabitants identified themselves primarily on religious terms, 84% being Muslim Arabs.[14] The district's villages were normally inhabited by farmers while its towns were populated by merchants, artisans, landowners and money-lenders. The elite consisted of the religious leadership, wealthy landlords and high-ranking civil servants.[14]
History
In 1841, the district was separated from Damascus Eyalet and placed directly under Constantinople[8] and formally created as an independent Mutasarrifate in 1872. Before 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was officially a sanjak within the Syria Vilayet (created in 1864, following the Tanzimat reforms).
The southern border of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was redrawn in 1906, at the instigation of the British, who were interested in safeguarding their imperial interests and in making the border as short and patrollable as possible.[15]
In the mid-19th century the inhabitants of Palestine identified themselves primarily in terms of religious affiliation. The population was 84% Muslim Arabs, 10% Christian Arabs, 5% Jewish, and 1% Druze Arabs.[14] Towards the end of the 19th century, the idea that the region of Palestine or the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem formed a separate political entity became widespread among the district's educated Arab classes. In 1904, former Jerusalem official Najib Azuri formed in Paris, France the Ligue de la Patrie Arabe ("Arab Fatherland League") whose goal was to free Ottoman Syria and Iraq from Turkish domination. In 1908, Azuri proposed the elevation of the mutasarrifate to the status of vilayet to the Ottoman Parliament[5] after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution.
The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during the Palestine campaign of World War I[12] and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA South) set up to replace the Ottoman administration.[13] OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. The military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South became the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923, with some border adjustments with Lebanon and Syria.
Below are a series of contemporary Ottoman maps showing the "Quds Al-Sharif Sancağı" or "Quds Al-Sharif Mutasarrıflığı". The 1907 maps show the 1860 borders between Ottoman Syria and the Khedivate of Egypt, although the border was moved to the current Israel-Egypt border in 1906, and the area north of the Negev Desert is labelled "Filastin" (Palestine).
1883
1889
1889
1893
c.1900
1907
1907
1912-13
Administrative divisions
Administrative divisions of the Mutasarrifate (1872–1909):
Beersheba Kaza (Ottoman Turkish: قضا بءرالسبع; Turkish: Birüsseb' kazası; Arabic: قضاء بئر السبع), which included two sub-districts and a municipality:
a-Hafir (Ottoman Turkish: ناحيه حفير; Turkish: Hafır nahiyesı; Arabic: ناحية عوجة الحفير), created in 1908 as a middle point between Beersheba and Aqaba, close to the newly agreed border with Sinai[17]
al-Mulayha, created in 1908 as a midway point between Hafir and Aqaba[17]
Hebron Kaza (Ottoman Turkish: قضا خليل الرحمن; Turkish: Halilü'r Rahman kazası; Arabic: قضاء الخليل), which included two sub-districts and a municipality:
Ramla (Ottoman Turkish: ناحيه رمله; Turkish: Remle nahiyesı; Arabic: ناحية الرملة), created in 1880, became municipality before 1888 and re-established as sub-district in 1889
Jerusalem Kaza (Ottoman Turkish: قضا قدس; Turkish: Kudüs-i Şerif kazası; Arabic: قضاء القدس الشريف), which included four sub-districts and two municipalities:
Bethlehem (Ottoman Turkish: ناحيه بيت اللحم; Turkish: Beytü'l lahim nahiyesı; Arabic: ناحية بيت لحم), created in 1883 and became a municipality in 1894;
Ramallah (Ottoman Turkish: ناحيه رام الله; Turkish: Ramallah nahiyesı; Arabic: ناحية رام الله), created in 1903 and became a municipality in 1911,
Nazareth Kaza (Ottoman Turkish: قضا الْنَاصِرَة; Turkish: Nasra kazası; Arabic: قضاء الْنَاصِرَة), established 1906.
Mutasarrıfs of Jerusalem
The Mutasarrıfs of Jerusalem were appointed by the Sublime Porte to govern the district. They were usually experienced civil servants who spoke little or no Arabic, but knew a European language - most commonly French - in addition to Ottoman Turkish.[18]
The 1915 Filastin Risalesi ("Palestine Document") is a country survey of the VIII Corps of the Ottoman Army, which identified Palestine as a region including the sanjaqs of Akka (the Galilee), the Sanjaq of Nablus, and the Sanjaq of Jerusalem (Kudus Sherif). "The new expanded use of the designation Filistin by the Ottoman military authorities in Risalesi therefore, is novel, but not arbitrary," since the boundaries of Filistin were never precisely defined; see Ottoman Conceptions of Palestine-Part 2: Ethnography and Cartography, Salim Tamari
Abu-Manneh, Butrus (1999). "The Rise of the Sanjak of Jerusalem in the Late Nineteenth Century". In Ilan Pappé (ed.). The Israel/Palestine Question. Psychology Press. ISBN978-0-415-16948-6. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
Powles, Lieut.-Col. C. Guy; Wilkie, Alexander Herbert (1922). "Chapter VI: The Capture of Jerusalem". The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine. Official History New Zealand's Effort in the Great War. Vol.III. Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs. OCLC2959465. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
Kushner, David (2005). To be governor of Jerusalem: the city and district during the time of Ali Ekrem Bey, 1906–1908. Istanbul: Isis Press. p.96. ISBN978-975-428-310-5.