Sultan Abdul Hamid II Refused to Sell Palestine

It was a vast empire that included Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem in the Middle East, North Africa, and large parts of Europe such as Greece, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

Due to wars with Russia and excessive military spending, the empire faced severe financial difficulties, eventually nearing bankruptcy.

European creditor nations, including Imperial Russia and France, established the Ottoman Public Debt Administration to directly collect taxes from the Ottoman Empire, infringing upon the empire's economic sovereignty.

As antisemitism became rampant across Europe, Theodor Herzl concluded that Jews could not integrate into European society and advocated for the establishment of an independent Jewish state, founding the World Zionist Organization.

Initially, other regions like Uganda or Argentina were discussed as potential sites for a Jewish state, but Herzl expressed a firm commitment to building a Jewish state in Palestine, which is a holy site for Judaism.

Theodor Herzl made an extraordinary offer to resolve the Ottoman Empire's massive foreign debt in exchange for permission for Jewish settlement in Palestine.

Backed by the financial power of the Rothschild family, a giant European banking dynasty, he attempted to buy out the Ottoman Empire and persuade Sultan Abdul Hamid II with additional economic incentives such as railway construction and market openings.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II declared that while the empire might collapse and Palestine could be taken for free, it would absolutely not happen while he was alive. He stated that he would rather have his body torn to pieces than give up Palestine, emphasizing that the territory was a trust for the people, not personal property, and thus rejected the offer of sale.

The Sultan declared that it would be better to have his body torn to pieces than to give up Palestinian territory, proclaiming that while the empire might collapse and Palestine could be taken for free, it would be absolutely impossible as long as he was alive.

This firm refusal by the Sultan demonstrates his deep sense of responsibility for Palestine and his recognition of its religious and historical significance.

The Sultan's abdication was a decisive turning point that accelerated the rapid decline of the Ottoman Empire, and it marked the beginning of the tragedy where his concerns about the Palestine issue became a reality.

This meant that the tragic prediction the Sultan had worried about when rejecting Herzl's proposal in 1901—that if the empire lost its strength, it would be unable to protect Palestine—had come true.

In 1917, during World War I, Britain issued the 'Balfour Declaration,' promising to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.

This resulted in Britain handing over the territory, which the Sultan valued more than his own life and refused to sell, to the Zionists under the pretext of war, eventually leading to the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the tragic forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II, though he lost his reign, is praised as a man of principle for adhering to his firm commitment to protect Palestine and refusing its sale.