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The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem is an international zone in the Levant, ruled by an multinational council consisting out of delegates from Canada (representing the remnants of the British Empire), the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary and the United States of America. De jure a part of the Ottoman Empire, the M.O.J. encompasses the Ottoman Kudüs-i Şerif Mutasarrıflığı including the port city of Umm Al-Rashrash and, since the Collapse of the British Empire in 1925, the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal Zone.
The territory is considered a hotbed of Arab nationalism due to ethnic conflict caused by the immigration of Jewish settlers from Europe, further fuelled by the emerging Kingdom of Egypt to the west; With no great power having a real interest in the M.O.J. anymore, the future of the international zone looks dire, as unrest is rising with every month.
The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem borders the Kingdom of Egypt to the southwest, the Ottoman Vilayet of Beirut to the north, the Ottoman Vilayet of Syria to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
History[]
Pre-Weltkrieg[]
The history of the Holy Land under Ottoman rule always was a troubled one. Part of the Empire ever since its conquest from the Egyptian Mamluks in the 16th century, the land that is known to the west as "Palestine" became a battleground of cultures several times, most prominently during the Egyptian–Ottoman Wars of the 19th century. Peace and stability only arrived in the 1840s, when Britain reined in the Egyptians and recognized Constantinople as the legitimate ruler of the Levant. For the first time, centralized Ottoman rule was established in the Holy Land.
Administrative divisions in the Ottoman Levant shortly before the Weltkrieg.
In the following decades, Palestine underwent an acceleration in its socio-economic development, due to its incorporation into the global, and particularly European, economic pattern of growth. The beneficiaries of this process were Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians who emerged as a new layer within the Arab elite. From 1880 large-scale Jewish immigration began, almost entirely from Europe, based on an explicitly Zionist ideology.
In 1872, administrative reforms led to the creation of the autonomous Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, which was under the direct authority of the Sublime Porte. The Western Powers were present in the region via diplomatic missions, and they even had their own courts, marshals, colonies, schools, postal systems, religious institutions, and prisons. The European Consuls also extended protections to large communities of Christian and later Jewish protégés who had settled in Palestine. Already at that time, the groundwork for an international zone had been laid.
Weltkrieg[]
The Weltkrieg however would change the established circumstances drastically. The British began their Sinai and Palestine Campaign in 1915, capturing Jerusalem in late 1917. They moved into the Jordan valley in 1918 and a campaign by the Entente into northern Palestine led to the Battle of Megiddo in September; Only an ad hoc manoeuvre by Mustafa Kemal Pasha at Antep and Maraş stopped the Entente from advancing into Anatolia.
British General Edmund Allenby entering Jerusalem, December 1917.
Even though the British were not able to make any further gains for the rest of the war, the Ottomans were neither, and therefore British authority in Palestine remained uncontested. The Ottoman administration was abolished and instead the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA), a joint British-French-Arab occupation authority, was established.
By the end of the war in late 1919, the situation in the Levant had barely changed; The Entente had retreated from Syria back to the Allenby Line at Nablus after some heavy blows in Greece, the Caucasus and on the Western Front, but their positions south of the line, in Hejaz and in Mesopotamia were still strong and stable, while the Turks were internally struggling and close to collapse; Therefore, the British were not willing to evacuate Palestine without making any significant gains. They signed the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, but refused to conclude peace with the Ottomans; In December 1919, official peace negotiations between the British and Ottoman Empires, attended by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the US as neutral mediators, started in Jerusalem.
Arrival of the delegations at the Old City of Jerusalem, December 1919
Discussions were lengthy, as no one was willing to make concessions. However, over time, as war exhaustion on both sides was rising (Britain's colonies as well as Ireland were in full revolt, while the revolting Hejaz and Yemen were still cut off from the rest of the Ottoman Empire due to the British land blockade), a deal was struck, the so-called Jerusalem Accords, which reestablished the old Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, but this time as an international, demilitarized zone, governed by a multinational council. A similar autonomy was established in the Basra Vilayet in Mesopotamia.
In the end, almost everyone profiteered from the creation of the M.O.J. - except the Ottomans. The US had presented themselves as reliable mediators fighting for the true and right cause, Germany and Austria-Hungary had increased their international reputation by publicly condemning the war crimes of their own ally (as the Ottoman Young Turk government had been responsible for multiple war crimes during the war, for example in nearby Lebanon) and the British had gained valuable influence in Palestine and Mesopotamia; Understandably, the Ottoman public was enraged, German-Turkish relations soured and the M.O.J. became a symbol of Ottoman weakness on the global stage, a disgrace for Turkish nationalists.
Post-Weltkrieg[]
British merchant cruiser stuck in Port Said harbor during the Suez Crisis, 1925
After the end of the war, thousands of Jews arrived in Palestine, many of whom had fled the horrors of the Russian Civil War. Even though the most ambitious plans of the Zionists had been thwarted, as Palestine was split in two parts due to the Allenby Line being the northern boundary of the M.O.J., it was still enough to enrage local Muslim elites, who felt ignored by the authorities; Arab nationalism soon emerged and Palestine became the new centre of the Pan Arab movement.
In the year 1925, the M.O.J. would play an important role on the world stage: With the British Revolution and the Collapse of the British Empire in full swing, the Suez Canal Zone was in a vulnerable position; In the so-called Suez Crisis, the newly independent Kingdom of Egypt tried to seize the Canal and all businesses surrounding it for themselves, causing international uproar. Only due to a German ultimatum, Cairo eventually had to back down and the Suez Canal as well as the Sinai Peninsula were put under temporary international jurisdiction, similar to Hong Kong a few months later (see Legation Cities), and were from now on being ruled from Jerusalem.
Arab nationalist protestors on the streets of Jerusalem, 1934. Marked with the cursor is Jamal al-Husayni, influential Arab freedom fighter.
After the British Revolution, the power distribution inside the M.O.J. was severely disturbed; The exiled British government in Ottawa had other problems than maintaining their influence in Palestine, while the USA suffered from the worst economic crisis of their history and Austria-Hungary had to deal with internal instability and chaos on the Italian peninsula; Therefore, Germany remained the sole power that was able to exert influence in Palestine; With German-Ottoman relations at their low point anyway, Berlin did not hesitate to increase their influence on the Ottoman Empire even further and used the M.O.J. as a façade to strong-arm Constantinople into giving them access to more of their oil reserves.
Now, in the mid-30s, the M.O.J. is mostly seen as a relict of the past, with no one involved in it, except maybe Germany, interested in maintaining it. Unrest is at an all-time high, further fuelled by Egypt and therefore indirectly by the International; With an uncertain future ahead, the M.O.J. could be the starting point of a new Middle Eastern Conflict very soon...
Politics[]
In its core, the M.O.J. can be compared to other international or multinational governed zones/protectorates/autonomies of the past, like the Cretan State (1898-1913), the Khedivate of Egypt (1867-1914) and to a certain degree to the Principality of Albania (1913-1926), which was protected by a similar international gendarmerie in its early years.
The highest political instance within the Mutasarrifate is the International Council consisting out of delegates from the German Empire, United States, British Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. They are responsible for all questions regarding immigration, taxation and military maintenance. Another body consists of representatives of all the religious groups in the region, like the Sunni Grand Mufti, the Catholic Latin Patriarch, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, the Armenian Patriarch, the Jewish Hakham Bashi etc. They act as the local government, but are in close cooperation with the international council and mostly dependent on them, as they oversee their budget.
This whole structure is headed by a Turkish mutasarrif (a special governor), who is directly appointed by the Ottoman Sultan himself. While de jure the head of the M.O.J., the mutasarrif is essentially powerless and mostly responsible for representative tasks. The current mutasarrif, who was appointed shortly after the election of Mustafa Kemal Pasha and the OHF in 1935, is the Young Turk Esat Sagay.
Military[]
Ottoman troops are strictly forbidden to enter the International Zone, as it stands under international law and protection. The entire M.O.J. is demilitarized, with the only protection force being the International Gendarmerie, a police force mostly consisting out of European volunteers. Many officers hail from Sweden, a country chosen by the Great Powers to ensure the gendarmerie's neutrality. They maintain order in the cities, but foreign influence on the countryside is relatively sparsely spread; Therefore, the traditional Bedouin tribes remain the most important security forces outside of urban areas.
Geography[]
Mid-1920s map of the railway system in Palestine, Sinai, along the Suez Canal and Transjordan; The borders of the MOJ are marked in blue.
Palestine[]
Palestine is the cultural and political centre of the M.O.J., as the entire international zone is governed from Jerusalem, the holy city of all Abrahamic religions. Due to international protection, religious movements of all kinds are flourishing, and the foreign visitor will encounter one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse regions on earth.
Apart from Jerusalem, Palestine is also home to the ancient cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Jericho. On the Mediterranean Coast, the city of Jaffa and its Jewish-dominated suburb of Tel Aviv are evolving into one of the Levant's most important trading hubs. In the far south of Palestine lays the small coastal city of Umm Al-Rashrash, which originally was the M.O.J.'s sole access to the Red Sea. A minor seaport was originally to be constructed there, but most trade continued to flow in and out of nearby Aqaba instead. Since the inclusion of the Suez Canal into the M.O.J. in 1925, Umm Al-Rashrash has become mostly irrelevant again.
Suez Canal Zone[]
The Suez Canal Zone is the bustling economic centre of the M.O.J., with dozens of international companies bring present in the large cities of Port Said, Port Fuad, Ismailia and Suez. The Canal is maintained by the British-owned Suez Canal Company and the only connection between Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean, and therefore the most important waterway in the world.
Since the withdrawal of British forces from the Canal Zone and the inclusion of the Canal in the M.O.J. in 1925, the Palestinian international gendarmerie has become the main security force in the region.
Sinai Peninsula[]
The Sinai is the most backwards area within the M.O.J., with centralized control only established in the north around El Arish. Covered by the harsh Sinai Desert, there are no modern land connections between the Suez Canal and Palestine via the Sinai Peninsula (except the severely outdated Sinai Railway, which is mainly used for military transports), therefore the Eastern Mediterranean seaways remain the most important travel routes between the two former.