Are there famous Palestinians in the 1800s ?
I know of someone from 1700’s who was and is still very special to us Palestinians. Meet Zahir al-Umar:
Artistic representation of Zahir al-Umar by Ziad Daher Zedani, 1990.
Zahir was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Palestine in the mid-18th century.
Zahir’s founding of a virtually autonomous state in Palestine has made him a national hero among Palestinians today.
Zahir and Ali Bey, which had brought together Egypt and Palestine politically and economically in a way that had not occurred since the early 16th century. While their attempts to unite their territories economically and politically were unsuccessful, their rule posed the most serious domestic challenge to Ottoman rule in the 18th century.
Zahir was the de facto ruler over Palestine.
Zahir al-Umar’s autonomous sheikhdom in 1774.
Before Zahir consolidated power, the villages of northern Palestine were prone to Bedouin raids and robberies and the roads were under constant threat from highway robbers and Bedouin attacks. Although following the looting raids, the inhabitants of these agrarian villages were left destitute, the Ottoman provincial government would nonetheless attempt to collect from them the miri (hajj tax). To avoid punitive measures for not paying the miri, the inhabitants would abandon their villages for safety in the larger towns or the desert. This situation hurt the economy of the region as the raids sharply reduced the villages’ agricultural output, the government-appointed mutasallims (tax farmers) could not collect their impositions, and trade could not be safely conducted due to insecurity on the roads.
By 1746, however, Zahir had established order in the lands he ruled. He managed to co-opt the dominant Bedouin tribe of the region, the Bani Saqr, which greatly contributed to the establishment of security in northern Palestine.
Moreover, Zahir charged the sheikhs of the towns and villages of northern Palestine with ensuring the safety of the roads in their respective vicinity and required them to compensate anyone who was robbed of his/her property. General security reached a level whereby ” an old woman with gold in her hand could travel from one place to another without fear or danger”, according to biographer Mikhail Sabbagh.
In addition to providing security, Zahir and his local deputies adopted a policy of aiding the Palestinian peasants cultivate and harvest their farmlands to further guarantee the steady supply of agricultural products for export. These benefits included loans to peasants and the distribution of free seeds.
Financial burdens on the peasants were also reduced as Zahir offered tax relief during drought seasons or when the harvest seasons were poor.
When Zahir conquered Acre, he transformed it from a decaying village into a fortified market hub for Palestinian products, including silk, wheat, olive oil, tobacco, and cotton, which he exported to Europe.
Zahir’s designation of prices for the local cash crops also prevented “exploitation” of the Palestinian peasants and local merchants by European merchants and their “manipulation of the prices”, according to Joudah.
Zahir further encouraged trade by offering local merchants interest-free loans, maintained tolerant policies, and encouraged the involvement of religious minorities in the local economy.
In the late 19th century, the Palestine Exploration Fund’s Claude Reignier Conder wrote that the Ottomans had successfully destroyed the power of Palestine’s indigenous ruling families who ” had practically been their own masters” but had been “ruined so that there is no longer any spirit left in them”. Among these families was the ”proud race” of Zahir, which was still held in high esteem, but was powerless and poor.
Zahir’s modern-day Palestinian descendants in Galilee use the surname “Dhawahri” or “al-Zawahirah” in Zahir’s honor. The Dhawahri clan constitute one of the traditional elite Muslim clans of Palestine in Nazareth, alongside the Fahum, Zu’bi, and ‘Onallas families.
Other Palestinian villages in Galilee where descendants of Zahir’s clan live are Bi’ina and Kafr Manda and, prior to its 1948 destruction, al-Damun. Many of the inhabitants of modern-day northern Israel, particularly the Palestinian towns and villages where Zahir or his family left an architectural legacy, hold Zahir in high regard.
Family tree (in Arabic) from Zahir up to his modern-day Palestinian descendants
Although he was mostly overlooked by historians of the Middle East, some scholars view Zahir’s rule as a forerunner to Palestinian nationalism. Among these scholars is Karl Sabbagh, who asserts the latter view in his book Palestine: A Personal History, which was widely reviewed in the British press in 2010. Zahir was gradually integrated into Palestinian historiography.
In Murad Mustafa Dabbagh’s Biladuna Filastin (1965), a multi-volume work about Palestine’s history, Zahir is referred to as the “greatest Palestinian appearing in the eighteenth century”.The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) radio station, Voice of Palestine, broadcast a series about Zahir in 1966, praising him as a Palestinian national hero who fought against Ottoman imperialism.
Zahir is considered by many Arab nationalists as a pioneer of Arab liberation from foreign occupation. According to Joudah:
However historians may look at Shaykh Zahir al-‘Umar and his movement, he is highly respected by the Arabs of the East. In particular, the Palestinians consider him a national hero who struggled against Ottoman authority for the welfare of his people. This praise is reflected in the recent academic, cultural, and literary renaissance within Palestinian society that has elevated Zahir and his legacy to near-iconic status. These re-readings are not always bound to historical objectivity but are largely inspired by the ongoing consequences of the Nakba. Still, it is precise to say that Shaykh Zahir had successfully established an autonomous state, or a “little Kingdom,” as Albert Hourani called it, in most of Palestine for over a quarter of a century.
Fun fact : Palestinian models Gigi, Bella, and Alana Hadid are his descendants.