From 1840 onwards the Turkish Government gradually strengthened its hold on Palestine. The political power of the local sheikhs was greatly reduced, to the unmixed advantage of the whole country; and the increase of European interests led to the establishment of consulates and vice-consulates of the greater powers in Jerusalem and in the ports. The rivalry of religions continued. In 1847 the dispute between Greek Orthodox and Latin ecclesiastics in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, about the right to mark with a star the birthplace of Christ, be came one of the prime causes of the Crimean War. On June 3o, 1855, on the occasion of the visit of a European prince, the cross was for the first time since the crusades borne aloft through the streets of Jerusalem. Three years later the sacred area of the Haram esh-Sherif—the mosque on the site of the temple of Jerusalem—was for the first time thrown open to Christian vis itors. The last 4o years of the century were marked by a remark able process of colonization and settlement—French and Russian monastic and other establishments, some semi-religious and semi political ; German colonies, followed after the imperial visit by more imposing official foundations ; fanatical or freakish American communities; Jewish agricultural settlements—all, so to speak, nibbling at the country and each so intent upon gaining a step on its rivals as to be forgetful of the gathering storm. In 1896 Dr. Theodor Herzl (q.v.) issued his proposal for the establish ment of a Jewish state in Palestine and in 1898 came to the country to investigate its possibilities (see ZIONISM). The same year was marked by the picturesque visit of the German emperor, William II. (R. A. S. M.) 1900-1918.—The first signs of danger from European rivalries and Turkish Panislamic ambitions became visible early in the 2oth century, when schemes for the extension of the Turkish pil grim railway to the Egyptian border were discussed and surveys undertaken. In 1906 came the significant dispute between Great Britain and Turkey concerning the frontier of the Sinai district of Egypt. After crossing the border at Rafa south of Gaza and at Akaba, the Turks recoiled before an ultimatum and the fron tier was delimited. In the same year the opening of a narrow gauge railway from Deraa on the Damascus line to Haifa in creased the trade and prosperity of that port. The Young Turk revolution of 1908 passed off quietly in Palestine where the officials and small garrisons declared for the new regime, and the population acclaimed it with less fervour.
Immediately before the outbreak of the World War Palestine was passably prosperous. Jewish colonization, foreign philan thropy, an increasing tourist and pilgrim traffic greatly mitigated the natural poverty of the country. The presence of relatively large numbers of foreigners—a few consuls, traders and profes sional men, many missionaries and teachers and the Jewish and German colonists—improved the amenities of the larger towns and exercised a restraining effect on Turkish officialdom. In spite of the rivalry of foreign interests and the mixture of creeds and races the country was spared the crude scandals of Macedonia and Kurdistan. Education—of a sort—was fairly diffused among the townsfolk, more especially among the Jews and Christians, though the missionary schools too often made the Arab into a poor imita tion of a European or American rather than into a good citizen of the Ottoman empire. Below the peaceful surface there were
stirrings; the example of Egyptian progress under British control helped to promote a weak but perceptible Arab nationalism only aiming in Palestine at some form of local autonomy- The Pan islamic movement, supported by the Turkish authorities, was a little stronger. Arab Nationalists and Panislamists alike watched Zionist activities with increasing suspicion.
The outbreak of war between the Entente and Turkey brought this quiet period to an end. For over two years Palestine was the base of large Turkish forces which occupied Sinai and made two major attacks on the Suez canal. There were allied naval demonstrations on the Palestinian coast. Ahmed Jemal Pasha, governor-general of Syria and commander of the Turkish forces, ruled the country with a rod of iron. The cessation of remit tances proved fatal to large numbers of the Jews of the "Haluka" who died of sheer want. The Zionists after enjoying Jemal's favour, incurred his suspicion and suffered much minor perse cution; his hand was heavy on all Arabs suspected of Nationalism; locust plagues, conscription and the extreme corruption of the Turkish officers and officials bled the peasantry white. The British counter-offensive which began in the winter of 1916 and the con quest of Palestine are described elsewhere (see WORLD WAR; PALESTINE, OPERATIONS IN). The fall of Jerusalem marked its first stage. The Turks and a German contingent retained most of Samaria and all Galilee until their final and complete over throw in Sept. 1918. The victors, whose behaviour was gen erally admirable, were well received by the inhabitants of the country. It had suffered much in the past four years but cruelly as the war had thinned the population and wasted the resources of Palestine, it had had one good result—the linking up of the Haifa and Jerusalem railways with the Egyptian system and the construction by both combatants of a number of wells and bridges and a network of metalled roads. (P. GR.) Palestine under the Ottoman Government was an integral por tion of Syria, although the Sanjaq of Jerusalem, owing to its peculiar problems and importance, was governed by a Mutasar ref referring directly to Constantinople. Owing to the economic stagnation and financial strain which affected the whole Ottoman empire in consequence of the Italian (1911-12) and Balkan (1912-13) wars, Palestine was unable to develop herself in any way before the outbreak of the World War. Before 1913 auton omy in the imperial provinces extended in practice only to the right of making recommendations. The Ottoman constitution of 1908 had awakened new hopes, and in Syria and Palestine par ticularly so widespread a movement began in favour of decen tralization that the Turkish Government thought it wise to pass the provisional vilayet laws of 1913 and 1914, granting real local government powers. It is difficult to conjecture now to what extent a naturally intelligent people, discouraged and en feebled by four centuries of gross misgovernment, might have been helped by plans which were in fact cut short by the war and replaced by the tyranny of Jemal Pasha.