Ottoman Palestine: How It Was Governed and What Remains
How the Ottoman state ran Palestine for four centuries: provinces, communities, land law, railways and the buildings that still stand.
Table of Contents
The Ottomans ruled Palestine from 1516 until 1917–18, apart from the years 1831–1840, when Egypt held it. Their state set the provinces, counted the households, repaired Jerusalem’s walls and water, wrote a land code in 1858 and built a railway. Much of what they built still stands.
In short · checked 26.10.2026
Four centuries of Ottoman rule, 1516 to 1917–18, with Egypt in charge from 1831 to 1840.
- Ottoman rule began at Marj Dabiq on 24 August 1516 and ended in 1917–18: Jerusalem was handed over to the British in December 1917, after the Ottoman troops withdrew, and by September 1918 they held all of Palestine. The one break is the Egyptian period, 1831–1840.
- Three ranks of rule: the eyalet (province), the sancak (district) and the kaza (county). From 1872 the governor of Jerusalem answered directly to the central government.
- The state decided land and immigration by dated orders. The Land Code of 6 June 1858 set five kinds of land, and orders between 1891 and 1914 dealt with Jewish immigration.
- Some of it still stands: Jerusalem’s walls of 1536–1540, the Haseki Sultan imaret of 1551, the minarets and sebils (free-water kiosks) of the Haram al-Sharif, and Cezzar Ahmed Pasha’s works in Acre.
Tool · works checked 26.10.2026
The Haram al-Sharif, sultan by sultan
The Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, is the walled precinct in Jerusalem’s Old City that holds the Dome of the Rock. Its walls run 321 m on the north, 283 m on the south, 474 m on the east and 490 m on the west.
“Al-Aqsa” names the whole precinct and also the mosque on its south side; each card shows which one is meant. Nine sultans had works done here, from Süleyman I to Abdülhamid II.
Tap a numbered part of the drawing or a sultan to see the work.
A drawn view from the Mount of Olives side, not to scale. The gate in front is not named.
- 1 The Dome of the Rock
- 2 The Al-Aqsa Mosque
- 3 The precinct around them
- Süleyman I1520–66
- Murad III1574–95
- Mustafa II1695–1703
- Abdülhamid I1774–89
- Selim III1789–1807
- Mahmud II1808–39
- Abdülmecid I1839–61
- Abdülaziz1861–76
- Abdülhamid II1876–1909
- Dated work
- Work of the reign
Süleyman I 1520–66
The Dome of the Rock was repaired thoroughly. The damaged outer mosaic was replaced with tiles, and plaster grilles were set in the windows.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Süleyman I 1520–66
The Al-Aqsa Mosque, the building south of the Dome, was repaired. His inscription of the repair was lost in the late 1800s.
Source: TDV «Mescid-i Aksâ»
Murad III 1574–95
Building work on the Dome of the Rock went on.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Mustafa II 1695–1703
Mahmud Efendi repaired the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Islamic year 1114 (1702–03). The inscription of the repair is kept in the Islamic Museum, west of the mosque.
Source: TDV «Mescid-i Aksâ»
Abdülhamid I 1774–89
Building work on the Dome of the Rock went on.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Selim III 1789–1807
A building commissioner was to go to Jerusalem to renew the fresh-water conduits and to repair the surroundings of the Dome of the Rock and some other ruined buildings.
Source: State Archives, doc. 32 (Islamic date 10 Şevval 1211 = 8 April 1797)
Mahmud II 1808–39
Building work on the Dome of the Rock went on.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Mahmud II 1808–39
The Al-Aqsa Mosque was repaired in the Islamic year 1233 (1817–18). Four inscriptions mark the repair; two of them survive.
Source: TDV «Mescid-i Aksâ»
Abdülmecid I 1839–61
Building work on the Dome of the Rock went on.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Abdülmecid I 1839–61
The pools Süleyman had built for Jerusalem’s water, and the water channels that reach into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, were repaired and opened on Mevlid night, the night of the Prophet’s birthday.
Source: State Archives, doc. 34 (22 March 1848)
Abdülaziz 1861–76
Building work on the Dome of the Rock went on.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Abdülhamid II 1876–1909
Persian carpets were laid on the floor, a large crystal chandelier was hung in the middle and the ageing tiles were renewed.
Source: TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Abdülhamid II 1876–1909
The carpets and lamps of the Al-Aqsa Mosque were renewed.
Source: TDV «Mescid-i Aksâ»
Abdülhamid II 1876–1909
Tile plates made for the holy places at the Dome of the Rock, carrying the surahs Yasin and Isra, were sent on through the Jaffa district office (kaymakamlık).
Source: State Archives, doc. 118 (8 May 1893)
1516–17: how Ottoman rule began
The Ottoman army beat the Mamluk army at Marj Dabiq (Mercidâbık) on 24 August 1516. Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus surrendered, and Syria, Lebanon and Palestine passed to the Ottomans. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Mercidâbık Muharebesi» · TDV «Kudüs»
Selim I, 1516–17
- 24.08.1516Marj Dabiq: the Ottoman victory over the Mamluks, 38 km north of Aleppo.
- Oct 1516Jerusalem is probably under Ottoman administration.
- 29.12.1516Selim I visits Jerusalem with state dignitaries and an armed unit of 1,500 (4 Zilhicce 922 by the Islamic calendar).
- 02.01.1517He enters Gaza (8 Zilhicce 922).
- 19.03.1517He confirms the rights of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, Atalya, over the churches and monasteries used since old times, with a tax exemption.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Selîm I» · TDV «Kudüs» · State Archives (communities volume), p. 62
A sultan’s written order, a fermân, carried his monogram, the tughra; the order of 19 March 1517 is one. The state’s map had three levels.
Eyalet
The largest unit. A governor, the pasha, ran it, and the sancak where he sat was called the pasha’s sancak (paşa sancağı). Jerusalem belonged to the Şam (Damascus) eyalet for most of 1516–1831.
Sancak
A district under a bey. Four sancaks of Palestine lay under Şam: Jerusalem, Gaza, Nablus and Safed.
Kaza
A county with a kadı (judge) at its head. It was a legal unit outside military authority, tied directly to the centre.
How it was governed, 1516–1918
A chain of command ran from Istanbul to every village. Its rungs changed name more than once, and in 1872 the governor of Jerusalem began to answer directly to the central government.
Pick a period to see who held Jerusalem
- Province
- Şam (Damascus) eyalet
- Sancaks of Palestine
- Jerusalem, Gaza, Nablus, Safed
- Local seat
- A sancak bey governed Jerusalem; the kadı headed its court.
- In the 1700s
- The sancak beys came mostly from the Tūkān and Nimr families.
- Who held it
- Egypt: İbrâhim Paşa, son of Mehmed Ali Paşa, the governor of Egypt, took Palestine in 1832.
- Revolts
- 1834–1838, against higher taxes, disarmament and compulsory service.
- The end
- Ottoman rule returned in December 1840, after Acre was retaken with British and Austrian help.
- Province
- Sayda eyalet
- 1863
- Jerusalem gets a municipality and an administrative council.
- Province
- Suriye vilâyeti, formed in 1865 from Sayda and Şam
- 1865
- Jerusalem gets the telegraph.
- 1868
- The Jerusalem–Jaffa road opens.
- Status
- An independent mutasarrıflık, directly under the central government. A mutasarrıf is the governor of a sancak that answers to the capital.
- From 1888
- Nablus and Acre belong to the Beirut vilayet; Jerusalem stays independent.
- Note
- In TDV «Filistin» the change to a mutasarrıflık is dated 1887.
For money, Jerusalem answered to Aleppo at first and, from the second half of the 1860s, to the Damascus treasury. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
After 1888
- Jerusalem: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza and Hebron.
- Acre: Acre, Haifa, Safed, Nazareth and Tiberias.
- Nablus: Nablus, Beni Sab, Jammain and Jenin.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Filistin»
Local notables and the state, 1702–05
In 1702 a new sancak bey, Muhammad Pasha, raised taxes and collected them harshly. The naqib al-ashraf, the head of the city’s sharifs (descendants of the Prophet), Muhammad al-Husayni, led an uprising and in effect ran the city for two years. In 1705 the governor of Damascus restored state control with troops.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
- Muftis
- Mostly from the Ebü’l-Lutf family.
- Naqibs
- Mostly from the Hüseynî family.
- Senior court posts and mayors
- Mostly from the Hâlidî family.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Jerusalem also sent deputies to the Ottoman parliament. In the first parliament (1877–78) the Hâlidî and Hüseynî families competed for the seat, and Yûsuf Ziyâ el-Hâlidî won it. In the second parliament, after the 1908 revolution that restored the constitution, Rûhî el-Hâlidî and Saîd el-Hüseynî represented the city. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Jerusalem always answered to Damascus.
Damascus held it until 1831. Egypt ruled it until 1840, the Sayda province held it from 1841 and the Syria vilayet from 1865. From 1872 its governor answered to Istanbul. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Palestine was one Ottoman province.
It was run as sancaks: Jerusalem, Gaza, Nablus and Safed under Şam. After 1888 the sancaks were Jerusalem, Acre and Nablus, with Acre and Nablus in the Beirut vilayet. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Filistin»
A governor ran everything in his district.
A kaza had a kadı at its head. It was a legal unit outside military authority and tied directly to the centre. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Osmanlılar»
Süleyman’s Jerusalem: walls, water and a kitchen for hundreds
Under Süleyman I (1520–66) Jerusalem got new walls, repaired water channels and a large charitable complex. The works started with the repair of the Dome of the Rock and went on with the walls, which still stand.
1536–1540
Five years of building on the city walls.
Over 3 km
The walls run more than three kilometres.
Over 12 m
At their highest, more than twelve metres.
34
Thirty-four towers stand along them.
7
Seven gates; six carry inscriptions with the year of building.
Water and a kitchen
- Water: The channels that brought water from Bethlehem and Hebron were repaired and the pools renewed. Six fountains were built, five of them inside the walls.
- 1551: Hürrem Sultan, Süleyman’s wife, had a complex built: a mosque, a madrasa (school), a han (inn), a ribat (hostel) and an imaret (public kitchen).
- The kitchen: Food was given to hundreds of guests, Sufis, madrasa students and poor people.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs» · TDV «Hürrem Sultan»
Vakıf
A vakıf is a foundation: property set aside for good to pay for a mosque, a school or a kitchen. Hürrem Sultan’s complex was paid for by one, made of villages and land around Ramla. After her death in 1558, four villages near Sidon were added.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Households in the Ottoman tax registers of Jerusalem grew fast in her time.
| Register | Muslim households | Christian households | Jewish households | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1525–26 | 616 | 119 | 199 | 934 households, about 4,700 people |
| 1538–39 | 1,168 | 136 | 224 | 1,528 households and 160 single men, an estimated 7,900–8,000 people |
| 1554 | 1,987 | 303 | 324 | Over 13,000 people |
| 1562–63 | – | – | – | 2,451 households and 249 single men, an estimated 12,600–12,800 people |
Süleyman I built the Dome of the Rock.
The Dome was built in 685–691 (the Islamic year 72). Süleyman had it repaired thoroughly and its damaged outer mosaic replaced with tiles. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre»
Acre, Napoleon and the Egyptian years
Acre, on the coast, was a small town until the 1700s. After that it appears in each crisis: Zahir al-Umar, Napoleon, Egypt’s army and the British fleet.
A small town
Acre is the centre of a district of about 60 villages under the Safed sancak. About 115–120 people live in the centre at the start of the century and 280–300 in its second half.
Zahir al-Umar
A tax farmer in Tiberias (he held the right to collect its taxes), Zahir al-Umar is in Acre by 1746. He makes it his centre, rebuilds its ruined walls and opens the town to settlers and trade.
Acre retaken
After a siege from 17 August the state retakes Acre, and Zahir al-Umar is killed on 23 August. Cezzar Ahmed Pasha is made guardian of Acre and later governor of Sayda and Şam.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Akkâ» · TDV «Zâhir el-Ömer» · TDV «Cezzâr Ahmed Paşa»
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte, who landed in Egypt in 1798, takes Gaza and Ramle and besieges Acre from 18 March 1799. The siege fails, and the French leave in May.
Cezzar dies
Cezzar Ahmed Pasha dies in Acre, which he had rebuilt.
Egyptian siege
İbrâhim Paşa, son of Mehmed Ali Paşa of Egypt, besieges Acre for six months; the town is handed over in ruins. Egypt holds Palestine until 1840.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs» · TDV «Akkâ» · TDV «Filistin»
Revolts
Under Egyptian rule, revolts break out against higher taxes, disarmament and compulsory service.
Acre retaken
Acre returns to the Ottoman state, with British and Austrian help; the coast of Syria had been blockaded after Tyre and Sidon fell. Ottoman rule returns to Palestine in December 1840.
The Egyptian period began under Mahmud II and ended under Abdülmecid I. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs» · TDV «Akkâ» · TDV «Mehmed Ali Paşa»
- 1838
- A British consulate opens in Jerusalem; Prussia, France, Austria and Russia follow. A consulate is a state’s office in a foreign city that looks after its citizens and trade.
- 1841
- An Anglo-German Protestant bishopric opens in Jerusalem.
- 1845
- The Greek Orthodox patriarch moves to Jerusalem.
- 1847
- The Latin patriarchate is revived. A patriarch is the head of a church.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Who lived there, and how they were counted
The state registered households for tax. Ottoman counts give about 4,700 people in 1525–26 and 11,682 in 1849. Later estimates of the total are 20,000 (1870), 30,000 (1880), 40,000 (1890) and 55,000 (1900).
Shares of each community in Ottoman counts · checked 26.10.2026
1525–26households
616 Muslim119 Christian199 Jewish
1554households
1,987 Muslim303 Christian324 Jewish
1849people
6,184 Muslim3,744 Christian1,790 Jewish
For 1914, Ottoman statistics record 18,190 Jews in Jerusalem; why other figures are higher is explained below.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Under Ottoman rule each religious community was a millet. Non-Muslims lived under the state by a covenant that gave them legal standing and protection, and in the 1800s the word came to name each non-Muslim community. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Millet»
- Muslims
- Arabs, and people from Anatolia, North Africa (a large Maghribi group), India and Central Asia.
- Christians
- Syriac, Jacobite, Armenian, Greek, Melkite, Serb, Frank (Western) and Georgian groups.
- Jews
- The number rose in the 1500s because the Ottomans let some of the Jews expelled from Spain settle in Jerusalem. From 1538 they were recorded in three quarters.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
The Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem
Selim I confirmed the patriarch’s rights over the churches and monasteries used since old times, with a tax exemption that follows the covenant of Umar and earlier sultans’ orders.
Al-Aqsa, the Tomb of Mary and the Ascension Rock
No religiously improper acts were to be allowed at these holy places in Jerusalem, and they were to be kept clean.
Franks and Greeks, the holy places
Osman III issued a regulation to settle the dispute between the Franks (Western Christians) and the Greek Orthodox over the holy places in Jerusalem. Mustafa III renewed it in 1757 and Abdülhamid I in 1774.
Greeks and Armenians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The dispute over using the church was settled by the deeds Selim I had given the two communities in 1517.
Greek Orthodox and Latins, places in dispute
Abdülmecid I ordered that the places in dispute be handled by the findings of a commission set up for the purpose. A second order in 1853 added details.
A synagogue in Jerusalem
Permission to pull down the Hasidim synagogue, a Jewish house of worship in Jerusalem, and rebuild it larger, with rooms for rabbis.
The Samaritan community in Nablus
An order, in the sultan’s name, that the Samaritan community in Nablus and the Syrian steppe be treated kindly and not denied care and protection.
Checked 26.10.2026 · State Archives, docs. 2, 101, 106 and 8; State Archives (communities volume), items 17–19 and 84–85.
- The surre. The surre was money sent from Istanbul and Egypt. It was the city’s most important income.
- Money from abroad. Money sent by Jews abroad to Jerusalem’s Jewish community, like a form of almsgiving, and support for Christians from European kingdoms.
- Visitors. Pilgrims of the three faiths bought goods on their regular visits. Souvenirs were an income, and in the later 1800s their production moved to Bethlehem.
- Trades. Textiles and dyeing, leather, soap and metalwork. Soap went to Egypt; grain went to Egypt, Rhodes and Dubrovnik.
- Growth. From the 1850s the city grew, building work rose and unemployment fell.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
Why the figures differ
Ottoman and European figures differ most on the number of Jews in Jerusalem; European sources overstate it, at times on purpose. Ottoman figures count Ottoman citizens, so they leave out foreign nationals and unregistered immigrants. For 1914, Ottoman statistics give 18,190 Jews in Jerusalem. Arthur Ruppin, who worked for the Zionist organisation (the body formed in 1897 to organise the movement for a Jewish home in Palestine), put the number at 45,000.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs»
For Palestine as a whole, the Muslim share of the population was 87 % in 1880, 85 % in 1890 and 83 % in 1914, or 77 % when unregistered immigrants are included (the historian Justin McCarthy, in TDV «Filistin»). Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Filistin»
Land, roads and rails
The Land Code of 6 June 1858 (Islamic date 23 Şevval 1274) sorted land into five kinds. A commission under Ahmed Cevdet Paşa wrote it in 132 articles, gathering the rules of five and a half centuries, and it stayed in force until the Republic. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Arazi Kanunnâmesi»
- Mülk
- Private property, with full ownership.
- Mîrî
- State land. The state owns the land itself (rakabe) and the user holds the right to use it. Articles 8–90 deal with it.
- Vakıf
- Land or property set aside as a foundation for good.
- Metrûk
- Land left for public use. Articles 91–105 deal with it and with mevât.
- Mevât
- Unused land that no one works.
The rules for mülk and for vakıf stayed with the fiqh books (Islamic law). Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Arazi Kanunnâmesi»
Registration at the tapu office (the title-deed office) made little progress, partly out of fear of tax and conscription. In the late 1800s a small group of landowning families grew. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Filistin»
Three orders on land sales
- 30.08.1851Land was being bought for Latin, Greek Orthodox and Armenian monasteries in Jerusalem. Anyone in a local post who ignored the ban on Muslims selling land to non-Muslims was to be reported. State Archives, doc. 45
- 13.12.1857Foreign subjects were buying land in Jerusalem for hospitals and other buildings, vakıf trustees were selling foundation property, and sales by private deeds made owners hard to trace. Esad Efendi, in Jerusalem to repair the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was to register all property in the district, and trustees could not sell vakıf property. State Archives, doc. 46
- 03.01.1894Land, registered or not, was being turned into private property through court cases brought by agreement between the parties, so that it could be sold for more than its value, and buildings went up on it without the sultan’s order. Clerks of the Land Registry (Defter-i Hâkânî) were to sit in such cases, and rule-breakers were to be punished. State Archives, doc. 59
Telegraph
A telegraph line to Gaza is finished (the sultan is thanked on 8 October 1864), and Jerusalem gets the telegraph in 1865.
Jaffa road
The Jerusalem–Jaffa road opens, in the reign of Abdülaziz.
Railway
The Jerusalem–Jaffa railway opens.
Hejaz Railway
An order of 2 May 1900 starts the Hejaz Railway; building begins after a ceremony on 1 September 1900. The Haifa branch is finished in 1905, so the line reaches the Mediterranean. The whole line, 1,464 km with the branch, opens on 1 September 1908.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs» · State Archives, doc. 36 · TDV «Hicaz Demiryolu»
Municipality
Jerusalem gets a municipality and an administrative council.
Police, hospital
A police force starts in 1886 and a municipal hospital in 1891.
Government house
A new government house is to be built on a suitable site, because the old one is too small for the government offices.
Jaffa Gate
A sebil beside the Jaffa Gate and a clock tower on top of it are built in 1900. On 6 August 1900 a fountain and cistern at the Jaffa Gate (Bab al-Khalil in Arabic) are ordered, to mark the 25th anniversary of Abdülhamid II’s accession.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Kudüs» · State Archives, doc. 39 · State Archives, doc. 41
Other dated orders
- 09.08.1853
- Repair of the citadel walls near the Damascus Gate is ordered, at 17,100 kuruş (piastres, the Ottoman coin).
- 15.02.1870
- The members of the council of the Syria province approve a farm school at Jaffa for a Jewish educational society based in Paris.
- 14.03.1878
- Süleyman’s foundation pays for the repair of Jerusalem’s water conduits and for the wages of the guards who protect them.
- 30.08.1892
- The new secondary school in Acre is named after Abdülhamid II.
- 19.04.1906
- A power station on the Jordan and Auja rivers is planned, to light Jerusalem and Jaffa and to run a tramway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
- 17.02.1914
- The cost of a telephone line from Beersheba to Hafir is put in the budget.
Checked 26.10.2026 · State Archives, doc. 35, State Archives, doc. 85, State Archives, doc. 38, State Archives, doc. 86, State Archives, doc. 42, State Archives, doc. 43
Immigration and Zionism: what the state decided
Zionism is a political movement that took shape in the late 1800s. Its aim, in the Basel Programme of 29 August 1897, was a home for the Jewish people in Palestine, secured under public law. Theodor Herzl, who founded Zionism as an organised political movement, wrote Der Judenstaat (1896) and led the first Zionist Congress at Basel, where the World Zionist Organisation was formed. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Siyonizm»
1882–1903
20,000–30,000 people came, mostly from Russia, Romania and Galicia.
1904–1914
35,000–40,000 people came, mostly from Russia.
Because Palestine was Ottoman land, Zionists turned first to the Ottoman state. Herzl offered a payment for Palestine and later to take on the Ottoman public debt. A delegation under Herzl approached Abdülhamid II twice, and Herzl met the sultan in 1901. The sultan let persecuted Jews settle in Ottoman lands outside Palestine but did not accept a plan for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Siyonizm» · TDV «Filistin»
The state’s orders and reports on Jewish immigration, in date order
Safed and Haifa
Jews who asked to settle in Safed and Haifa, take Ottoman citizenship and be exempted from the military tax are refused and sent abroad, to settle in America. State Archives, doc. 52
Consuls’ protection
A report from a civil servant of the Jerusalem governorate: Jews expelled from Russia were putting themselves under the protection of the Russian and other consuls in Jaffa and Jerusalem and using the capitulations (the legal privileges foreign states held in the empire) to the full. It proposes that those claiming foreign nationality be sent back or take Ottoman nationality, and that no land be sold to Jews. State Archives, doc. 53
Jerusalem
No residence permit is given to Jews who come to settle in Jerusalem, and visitors may stay for one month. State Archives, doc. 54
Title deeds
For this region and for a time, title-deed clerks may not issue deeds on private papers drawn up between persons (written privately, not registered at the tapu office). Immigrants barred from settling were getting land through the inattention and leniency of civil servants, or by tempting owners with money. State Archives, doc. 56
Land transfer
A landowner of French nationality asks to transfer land in Haifa, Jerusalem and Jaffa to the agent of a Jewish buyer. The request is refused: the notice banning Jewish settlement in Palestine is in force. State Archives, doc. 58
Beirut province
Land worth over 1.7 million kuruş is being transferred to the head of a Paris society of Jewish immigrants. The sultan’s order stops the transfer and keeps the ban on Jewish immigration to Palestine. State Archives, doc. 65
After the 1908 revolution the new government, in the spirit of the restored constitution’s freedoms, first took an open line: it lifted the red permit (kırmızı tezkere, the temporary permit given to Jews visiting Jerusalem) and freed land purchases in Palestine. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Siyonizm»
Limits came back after the 31 March Incident. Minority movements for independence were growing and Zionist settlement in Palestine went on to a plan; the government saw the unity of the empire at risk and brought in a range of limits again. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Siyonizm»
The 31 March Incident, 1909
On 13 April 1909 (31 March 1325 in the Rumi calendar, the Ottoman civil calendar) soldiers rose in Istanbul and demanded the full application of sharia. It lasted 11 days. The Action Army took the city on 24 April, and on 27 April parliament deposed Abdülhamid II.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Otuzbir Mart Vak‘ası»
Council of Ministers
After the constitution is declared, the Council finds that earlier rules were not applied properly. It orders draft laws, and Nazareth district is attached to Acre again. State Archives, doc. 71
Visitors
Jewish visitors to Palestine and Jerusalem get temporary permits, so that visits can be controlled and settlement prevented. State Archives, doc. 72
Red permit
The red residence permit is judged not enough to stop long stays and land purchases. After debate in the Supreme Council the measures stay as they were, and land-sale practice continues as the Interior Ministry sees fit. State Archives, doc. 75
Land was still bought: funds such as the Jewish National Fund (set up in 1901 to buy land) sent money to Palestine. Even so, in 1917 only about 2 % of Palestine’s land was in Jewish hands. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Siyonizm» · TDV «Filistin»
In parliament, Rûhî el-Hâlidî, a deputy for Jerusalem in the second parliament, which was dissolved in 1912, opposed the plan of a Jewish state in Palestine and took steps against it there. Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Hâlidî, Rûhî»
1917–18: the end of Ottoman rule
During the war, orders of 13 January and 10 April 1915 told Jewish residents of Palestine who were citizens of states at war with the Ottoman Empire, and who refused Ottoman citizenship, to leave. The fare of the poor among them was paid. Checked 26.10.2026 · State Archives, doc. 76 · State Archives, doc. 77
1917: Gaza and Jerusalem
Gaza holds
Ottoman forces beat back two British attacks on Gaza; the British lose 6,500 men in the second.
Third battle of Gaza
The far stronger British force under General Allenby breaks the Gaza–Beersheba line.
The siege
The Ottoman 20th Corps defends Jerusalem with stiff resistance. On 9 December its commander, Ali Fuat (Cebesoy) Paşa, judges that the city cannot be held and withdraws east.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TTK, Figen Atabey · TDV «Filistin»
November 1917 to 1920
- 02.11.1917The Balfour letter is written.
- 09.12.1917After the Ottoman troops withdraw, the mayor hands the city over to British troops.
- 11.12.1917Allenby enters the city.
- Sep 1918The British hold all of Palestine.
- 30.10.1918The Armistice of Mondros ends the Ottoman war; it is signed under Mehmed VI Vahdeddin, the last sultan.
- 1920The San Remo Conference places Palestine under a British mandate, and a civil administration starts in July 1920.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Filistin» · TDV «Kudüs» · TTK, Figen Atabey · TDV «Mondros Mütârekesi»
2 November 1917
The Balfour Declaration is a letter from the British foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, to Lord Rothschild. Clause one: a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine is viewed favourably. Clause two: nothing is to harm the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities there. About 90 % of Palestine’s people were then Arabs; the letter calls them only “non-Jewish communities” and names their civil and religious rights, not their political or national rights.
Checked 26.10.2026 · TDV «Filistin»
What still stands
Jerusalem’s walls and gates
Built in 1536–1540 under Süleyman I: over 3 km long, over 12 m high, with 34 towers and 7 gates.
The Haseki Sultan imaret
Hürrem Sultan’s kitchen of 1551 now stands in poor repair. It once gave food to hundreds of guests, Sufis, students and poor people.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque
The inscription of the repair of 1702–03 is kept in the Islamic Museum, west of the mosque. Two of the four inscriptions of Mahmud II’s repair of 1817–18 survive.
Minarets, sebils and wells
The precinct holds four minarets, five sebils, many domes and many wells and cisterns, made at various times.
A dated tile band
A tile band with the surah Yasin on the parapet carries the date 1293 in the Islamic calendar (1876) and the calligrapher’s name, Mehmed Şefik. In 1876 Abdülaziz, Murad V and Abdülhamid II reigned in turn. The tiles around the upper windows date from Süleyman’s time.
Cezzar Ahmed Pasha’s town
His mosque, madrasa, market and many fountains and sebils are in the city, where he died in 1804.
Quick answers
When did Ottoman rule in Palestine begin and end?
It began with the victory at Marj Dabiq on 24 August 1516, and Jerusalem was probably under Ottoman administration by October 1516. It ended in 1917–18: Jerusalem was handed over in December 1917 after the Ottoman troops withdrew, and by September 1918 the British held all of Palestine. Egypt ruled from 1831 to 1840.
Who governed Jerusalem?
A sancak bey under the Şam eyalet until 1831, under the Sayda eyalet from 1841 and under the Syria vilayet from 1865. From 1872 a mutasarrıf governed it, directly under the central government.
What is a sancak?
A district under a bey, part of an eyalet. Under it came the kaza, a county headed by a kadı (judge).
What did the Land Code of 1858 do?
It sorted land into five kinds: mülk, mîrî, vakıf, metrûk and mevât. Mîrî land is owned by the state and used by the holder. The Code gathered the rules of five and a half centuries and stayed in force until the Republic.
How many people lived in Jerusalem?
About 4,700 in 1525–26 and 11,682 in 1849 (6,184 Muslims, 3,744 Christians and 1,790 Jews), by Ottoman counts. Later estimates of the total are 20,000 (1870), 30,000 (1880), 40,000 (1890) and 55,000 (1900). Ottoman and European figures differ most on the number of Jews.
What did the state decide on Jewish immigration?
Between 1891 and 1914 it refused settlement to Jews who asked for it, limited visits to a month, stopped some land transfers and kept its ban in force in 1901. After the 1908 revolution it lifted the red permit and freed land purchases in Palestine, and it brought limits back after 1909. In 1917 only about 2 % of Palestine’s land was in Jewish hands.
What happened in 1917–18?
Ottoman forces beat back two British attacks on Gaza in March and April 1917. In the third battle (31 October – 6 November) the British broke the Gaza–Beersheba line. The Balfour letter is dated 2 November. After a hard defence the Ottoman troops withdrew, and Jerusalem was handed over on 9 December; Allenby entered it on 11 December, and the British held all of Palestine by September 1918.
What still stands from Ottoman times?
Jerusalem’s walls of 1536–1540, the Haseki Sultan imaret, the minarets, sebils and wells of the Haram al-Sharif, the dated tile band of the Dome of the Rock and Cezzar Ahmed Pasha’s works in Acre.
Sources and limits
Show the pages checked
- TDV «Kudüs» — Ömer Faruk Harman, Casim Avcı, Işın Demirkent, Cengiz Tomar; the Ottoman part by Kâmil Cemîl el-Aselî, print year 2002; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Filistin» — M. Lutfullah Karaman, print year 1996; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Siyonizm» — M. Lutfullah Karaman, print year 2009; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Kubbetü’s-sahre» — Nebi Bozkurt, print year 2002; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Mescid-i Aksâ» — Nebi Bozkurt, print year 2004; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Akkâ» — Feridun Emecen, print year 1989; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Osmanlılar» — Feridun Emecen and section authors, print year 2007; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Selîm I» — Feridun Emecen, print year 2009; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Mercidâbık Muharebesi» — Feridun Emecen, print year 2004; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Cezzâr Ahmed Paşa» — Feridun Emecen, print year 1993; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Zâhir el-Ömer» — Feridun Emecen, print year 2013; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Hürrem Sultan» — Cahit Baltacı, print year 1998; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Mondros Mütârekesi» — Cemil Öztürk, print year 2020; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Hicaz Demiryolu» — Ufuk Gülsoy and William Ochsenwald, print year 1998; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Millet» — Recep Şentürk and İlber Ortaylı, print year 2020; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Arazi Kanunnâmesi» — Mehmet Âkif Aydın, print year 1991; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Otuzbir Mart Vak‘ası» — Azmi Özcan, print year 2007; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TDV «Hâlidî, Rûhî» — Ali Bulut, print year 2020; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, checked 26.10.2026
- TTK «100. Yılında Filistin’in Kaybına İlişkin Belgeler Işığında Genel Bir Değerlendirme» — Figen Atabey; Türk Tarih Kurumu, pp. 499–516, checked 26.10.2026
- Osmanlı Belgelerinde Filistin (Palestine in Ottoman Documents), İstanbul 2009, publication no. 102; documents 2, 8, 32, 34–36, 38, 39, 41–43, 45, 46, 52–54, 56, 58, 59, 65, 71, 72, 75–77, 85, 86, 101, 106 and 118 — Devlet Arşivleri (State Archives), checked 26.10.2026
- Kudüs’te Hristiyan Mezhep ve Milletlerin İdaresi (The Administration of Christian Denominations and Communities in Jerusalem), İstanbul 2019, publication no. 2; p. 62 and items 17–19 and 84–85 — Devlet Arşivleri (State Archives), checked 26.10.2026
TDV is the İslâm Ansiklopedisi of the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation. Photos, engravings, paintings and maps are from Wikimedia Commons, each with its author, date, licence and file page in the caption.
More guides: Ottoman Economy Under Abdülhamid II, Ottoman Bulgaria.
This guide is general information.
