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The Muslim migrations to Ottoman Palestine involved successive waves of settlement by Muslims of various ethnicities within the southern Syrian districts of the Ottoman Empire. This area, which encompasses modern-day Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza, was divided into different prefectures, such as the sanjaks of Nablus, Acre, and Lajjun and the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.

The migration process spanned several centuries, with migrants arriving from various regions, including surrounding areas in the Levant, Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, and even as far as the Balkans and North Africa. Immigrants who settled in Ottoman Palestine included Egyptians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Bedouins, and Arabs from neighboring areas, such as the Transjordan and the Hauran.

Background

Muslim migrations to Palestine began with the Muslim conquest of the region in the 7th century and continued throughout centuries of Muslim rule, peaking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the early Ottoman period, around the late 16th century, the population of Palestine (minus an area of the Hulah basin) was estimated to be approximately 206,290 people, significantly less than the region's population during the Roman and Byzantine periods, believed to be around 1,000,000 people. Aware of the under-population, the Ottomans promoted a policy of settlement in sparsely inhabited regions. Zvi Ilan also notes that the Ottomans aimed to defend the ancient, international highways that crossed Palestine, including the Via Maris and the King's Highway.

16th century

The Turabays, a prominent family from the Bedouin Banu Haritha tribe, who claim descent from the Tayy tribe of the Arabian Desert, assisted Ottoman Sultan Selim I in his conquest of Egypt during Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–1517. As a reward, they were granted control over what became the Lajjun Sanjak, covering the Jezreel Valley, northern Samaria and Lower Galilee. They also oversaw Gaza and led pilgrim caravans to Mecca. The Turabay family controlled Lajjun until the late 17th century when they were replaced by the Ottoman administration.

17th–18th centuries

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Bedouin clans migrated to Palestine from Hejaz, Syria, and Transjordan. The Ottomans encouraged this migration to populate certain areas, offering land and allowing freedom of movement. While the Bedouins were taxed when possible, their mobility made taxation rare and inconsistent. Even in the late 19th century, Bedouins were not conscripted for military service.

By the late 17th century, Druze settlers started establishing themselves around Banias and in Jabal al-Druze.

In the 1780s, a significant number of Egyptians sought refuge in Palestine in response to a severe famine in Egypt. It's estimated that about one-sixth of Egypt's population left at this time. According to Volney, in January 1785, the streets of Sidon, Acre, and all the cities of Palestine—defined by him as the area governed by the governor of Gaza, from Khan Yunis to a line between the "Jaffa River" and Caesarea—were filled with Egyptian refugees.

Egyptian migrations (1830s)

The first half of the nineteenth century saw a significant influx of Egyptian immigrants. Between 1831 and 1840, during Muhammad Ali's conquests and the reign of his son Ibrahim Pasha, Egyptian settlers and discharged soldiers migrated to Palestine. Ibrahim Pasha actively encouraged Egyptian immigration and facilitated the settlement of Bedouin clans in the region. According to Sabri, the total number of Egyptian migrants to Palestine in this period exceeded 6,000.

The Egyptian settlers predominantly established themselves in urban centers like Jaffa and Gaza, where they founded residental districts, and also integrated into nearby villages. Others settled in the Acre region, as well as the Jordan and Hula Valleys. At one time, 19 villages in the southern coastal plain were home to Egyptian families. Today, remnants of this migration can be found in the valley of Wadi Ara, Israel, where a significant population of Egyptian descent resides.

The withdrawal of Egyptian forces from Palestine increased Bedouin incursions to the region.

Algerian migrations (1847—1920)

Algerian refugees, commonly known as "Maghrebis," began immigrating to Palestine in the 1850s following Emir Abdelkader's surrender to French forces in 1847. They were transferred through northern Palestine into Syria and surrounding regions. Many eventually found homes in abandoned villages in Galilee, where later twelve villages were said to be populated by Algerians.

Waves of migration

The migration of Algerians to the Levant occurred in four significant waves. The first wave began in 1847 when approximately 560 refugees arrived in Damascus, Ajloun, and the Hauran. The latter areas were selected due to the abundance of open land and their distance from foreign influence. Another group reached Damascus in 1853, though their exact number remains unspecified. Starting in 1855, the authorities decided to settle the Algerians in the Acre Sanjak in Galilee. Small numbers of Algerian Berber refugees also settled in Safed following Abdelkader's exile to Damascus in 1855.

The second wave, occurring between 1860 and 1883, brought around 3,700 refugees who primarily settled in Tiberias and Safed. By 1881, a report from the French consulate in Damascus noted that there were 6,800 Algerians in the Acre Sanjak, indicating that the Algerian population in the region had nearly doubled in eleven years.

The third wave took place between 1883 and 1900 when the French demanded the conscription of Algerians. In 1886, 37 families, totaling 169 people, arrived in Damascus and were settled in the village of Al-Husayniyya, near the Hula Lake. In 1888, 250 migrants came to Acre, with some joining earlier settlers at the ruins of Hawsha and Bir al-Maksur near Shefaram, while others settled in Ghabba in the Haifa District. More families followed in 1889. In 1892, Hawsha received 148 more migrants, most of whom were from the Awlad Sidi Ara'is tribe from Oum El Bouaghi. The village of Samakh, near the Sea of Galilee, also became a significant settlement for these refugees, becoming one of the largest Algerian concentrations in the district. The fourth wave, from 1900 to 1920, saw most Algerians settling in the Hauran and near Damascus, with only a few settling in Palestine.

Colonies

In the Safed Subdistrict, five Algerian villages were established, including Dayshum, Ammuqa, Marus, al-Husayniyya and Tulayl. Ammuqa and Marus were settled by the tribe of Awlad Bu Alwarth from Dellys, Tulayl and al-Husayniyya by the tribe of Awlad Bu al-Kabir from Blida, and Dayshum by the tribe of Ayt Yahya from Tigzirt.

In the Tiberias Subdistrict, four villages were established by Algerians, including Awlam, Ma'dhar, Kafr Sabt, and Sha'ara. An unspecified number of Algerians also settled in Samakh and Tiberias itself. The village of Ma'dhar was inhabited by the tribes of Awlad Sidi Khaled and Sidi Amr, who came from Oued El Berdi and Bouïra. Kafr Sabt was home to the tribes of Awlad Sidi 'Amr and Awlad Sidi 'Isa from the same region. Awlam was inhabited by the tribes of Awlad Sidi Yunis and Awlad Sidi 'Isa from Aïn Bessem and Bouïra. Sha'ara's inhabitants belonged to the Sidi 'Isa tribe from al-Masila.

In the Haifa Subdistrict, the ruins of Hawsha-Kasayir and Bir al-Maksur were settled by the tribe of Awlad Sidi Arjis from Oum El Bouaghi. It appears that these settlers later concentrated in Hawsha.

Other Muslim migrations

Haurani migrations (dates unknown)

Immigrants from the Hauran region of modern-day Syria settled in Palestine during Ottoman times, establishing villages such as al-Masmiyya al-Kabira and al-Masmiyya al-Saghira, both founded near Gaza by settlers from al-Masmiyah. The exact dates of their migration are uncertain. Economic migration from Hauran to Palestine continued into the Mandatory period, during which four villages in the Gaza subdistrict were inhabited by people of Haurani origin.

Migrations from Circassia, Chechnya and Bosnia

The 19th century saw migrations to Palestine from Circassia and Chechnya, with refugees from territories the Russian Empire annexed in 1864. Bosniaks also migrated to Palestine after their province was captured by Serbia in 1878.

See also

• Demographic history of Palestine (region)
• Arab migrations to the Levant
• Arab migrations to the Maghreb
• First Aliyah

Sources

1. Wolf-Dieter Hutteroth and Kamel Abdulfattah, pp. 17–18, 43
2. Magen Broshi, The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 236 (Autumn, 1979), pp. 1–10
3. אילן, צבי, 'טורקמנים, צ'רקסים, ובוסנים בצפון השרון', עמ' 279–287
4. ^ Abu-Husayn 1985, p. 183.
5. ^ Ze'evi, Dror. An Ottoman Century: The District of Jerusalem in the 1600s. State University of New York Press. pp. 42–43, 94–95.
6. ^ Krämer, Gudrun (2008). A history of Palestine: from the Ottoman conquest to the founding of the state of Israel. Princeton University Press. pp. 50–51, 134–135. ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0. OCLC 141484787.
7. Ehrlich, Michael (2022). The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800. Medieval Islamicate world. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-80270-031-2.
8. Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. pp. 314–317, 345–385
9. M. Volney (1787), Travels through Syria and Egypt in the Years 1783, 1784 and 1785 (translated from French), I, London, pp. 193–194
10. Grossman, David (1987). היישוב הכפרי במישור-פלשת ובשפלה הנמוכה, 1835–1945 [Rural Settlement in the Southern Coastal Plain and the Shefelah, 1835–1945]. Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה (45): 57–86. ISSN 0334-4657. JSTOR 23400438.
11. Ehrlich, Michael (2022). The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800. Medieval Islamicate world. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-80270-031-2.
12. ^ Grossman, David (2017-09-08). Rural Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine: Distribution and Population Density during the Late Ottoman and Mandate Periods (1 ed.). Routledge. pp. 44–52. doi:10.4324/9781315128825. ISBN 978-1-315-12882-5.
13. M. Sabri (1930), L'Empire e'gyptien sous Mohamed-Ali et la question cf Orient (1811-1849), Paris, p. 181.
14. ^ Grossman, David (2004). Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine: Distribution and Population Density during the Late Ottoman and Early Mandate Periods (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magness Press, Jerusalem. p. 146. ISBN 978-965-493-184-7.
15. ^ Greene, Roberta R.; Hantman, Shira; Seltenreich, Yair; ʻAbbāsī, Muṣṭafá (2018). Living in Mandatory Palestine: personal narratives of resilience of the Galilee during the Mandate period 1918–1948. New York: Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-138-06898-8. In addition, there were 12 settlements in the Galilee of Algerian immigrants, who had come to the region during the second half of the nineteenth century after their emir, Abd al-Qader al-Jazairi, surrendered to the French in 1847.
16. ^ Ahmad Abbasi, Mustafa (2007). "הקהילה האלג'יראית בגליל משלהי השלטון העות'מני עד שנת 1948". אופקים בגיאוגרפיה. 68/9: 56–62.
17. ^ Grossman, David (1987). היישוב הכפרי במישור-פלשת ובשפלה הנמוכה 1835-1945 [Rural Settlement in the Southern Coastal Plain and the Shefelah, 1835-1945]. Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה (in Hebrew) (45): 64, 67. ISSN 0334-4657. JSTOR 23400438.

Work cited

• Abu-Husayn, Abdul-Rahim (1985). Provincial Leaderships in Syria, 1575–1650. Beirut: American University of Beirut. ISBN 9780815660729.

• Historical migrations
• 16th century in the Ottoman Empire
• 17th century in the Ottoman Empire
• 18th century in the Ottoman Empire
• 19th century in the Ottoman Empire
• 20th century in the Ottoman Empire
• History of the Arabs