If James Balfour, Britain’s Foreign minister, was the one who made a promise to the Zionist movement to establish a homeland for the Jews in Palestine in 1917, which was later called the “Balfour Declaration,” then the real founder of Israel is Sultan Abdul Hamid. Palestine was ruled and administered by Sultan Abdul Hamid. Abdul Hamid bartered the Jews for Palestine in an attempt to preserve his collapsed country. This is not strange for the Ottomans, as they abandoned Libya in exchange for Italian support, which allowed Italy to occupy and colonize Libya and plunder its wealth. 

Today, political Islam organizations and their affiliates are trying to hide the crimes of Sultan Abdul Hamid, whose effects are still in Palestine and many of the regions that were colonized by Istanbul. The propaganda surrounding Abdul Hamid is so great that it portrays him as one of the rightly guided caliphs, in addition to the obscurity that surrounds him in his domestic political relations.
In order to establish a new vision for another Abdul Hamid, other than the real one found in the history books, the Islamists identified a romantic figure, based on the sentiments of Muslims. They fabricated stories, achievements, and battles he had not fought.

They portrayed the construction of the railway from Istanbul to Medina, Haifa in Palestine and Baghdad in Iraq as a religious achievement. It was built thanks to donations from Muslims and the Ottomans did not pay a single penny in it. The real goal of it was to transfer armies and armies to control the Islamic countries, in addition to serving the German project in the region. As for his abandonment of Palestine and selling it to the Jews, they invented other accusers and claimed that he refused leave it up. As for the medal given to Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement, they described it as the wisdom of the Sultan, what a forgery and fabrication that does not change the truth.

After those failures and the dense blackness covering the biography of Sultan Abdul Hamid, they made him an icon of political Islam and a symbol of restoring the so-called “Caliphate”. They overlooked his relationship with the head of the Zionist movement, Herzl. That relationship went beyond friendship and reached an alliance between the Ottoman Sultanate and the Zionist movement, to confront the collapse in the structure of the Ottoman Empire financially and politically. This collapse was due to the international debt that broke its back and turned it into a defeated state.

Sultan Abdul Hamid’s relationship and friendship with Herzl not only resulted in the repayment of the Sultanate’s debts in exchange for the establishment of Israel, but also the Ottomans’ support for the Allies. That relationship was described by Herzl in his diaries as follows: “Abdul Hamid promised us with an independent Jewish state in exchange for repaying his debts”. That relationship and partnership resulted in the establishment of Israel and the disregard for the right of Palestine.

The Ottoman Empire, described as a sick man, was at its worst. The treasury was bankrupt. Abdul Hamid found only Herzl to seek his help, hoping that he would be able to save his declining sultanate. Secret negotiations and correspondence began between them until they reached a formula titled Money for Palestine. Negotiations over the sale of Palestine lasted 8 years. It began in 1896 AD and ended in 1903 AD. During that period there were 5 visits to Istanbul.
Several historians have described how Sultan Abdul Hamid received Herzl with kindness, describing him as a sincere friend as he asked him to save his country from bankruptcy.

Herzl based his negotiations on the Ottomans’ urgent need for money, offering Abdul Hamid £ 20 million, divided as follows: Two million for the lands of Palestine and 18 million for the Ottoman Treasury, as a result of which the Jewish immigrants were granted exceptional privileges and facilities. Herzl returned to Europe and held the First Zionist Conference in Basel (1897 AD), announcing his Zionist goals to establish a homeland for the Jewish people under Ottoman auspices.

We must not forget the German role represented by German Kaiser Wilhelm II. He represented, with Abdul Hamid and Herzl, the triangle of the political movement that pursued the implementation of the deal until its completion. During the meeting that was held in October of the year (1898AD) in Istanbul, Wilhelm II showed sympathy for the Zionist aspirations, and the three reached to consolidate partnership relations until the birth of the Israeli homeland. Abdul Hamid pledged to the Kaiser to implement the deal as soon as possible, so he opened the gates of Palestine wide and responded to the immigrants’ demands to dismiss the governor of Jerusalem, Tawfiq Pasha, who tried to disrupt their administrative procedures. Abdul Hamid assigned the new governor to provide land to immigrants, and to abolish the laws that restricted them that were issued in the year (1887AD), so he exempted them from insurance and the requirement to limit residency for a period of 31 days.

The Jews used two methods in the process of buying land, the first of which is: dealing directly with brokers and Palestinian landowners, many of whom did not mind selling. The other method: With the Ottoman administration, which granted citizenship to tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants, what made it easier for them to obtain real estate and transfer ownership of them as Ottoman citizens. They registered these properties with their direct names, so that the Jews succeeded in purchasing 97 Palestinian villages between 1890-1900 AD, at a price of 7 million francs, and for the Ottomans to take care of their evacuation from their residents later.

The relationship between Sultan Abdul Hamid and Theodor Herzl did not stop at the negotiations on Palestine, nor at the financial support for the treasury of the Ottoman Empire, which was in the end a bribe in exchange for the sale of Palestine. The Sultan considered Herzl a great friend and bestowed him with the highest honor, the “Glorious Nishan”. It was as if the Sultan took off his Ottoman fez and put on the Jewish hat, or what the Jews call a “kibbah”. When Herzl received the Glorious Nishan, he wrote, thanking the Sultan, the following: “When your Majesty is pleased to accept the services of the Jews, they will be happy to put their forces at the disposal of a great king like you”.