In 1917, within the metropolis of Nablus in Palestine, earlier than leaving for World Warfare I, an officer within the Ottoman military gave a Palestinian household a small bag containing the Turkish and Palestinian flags and a bit of fabric wrapping some previous banknotes of assorted denominations.
On Nov. 4, after having saved the pouch for all these years, the household handed it over to the Turkish counsel in Jerusalem, Ahmet R. Demirer, throughout a ceremony held on the headquarters of Nablus Governorate.
The ceremony was additionally attended by Nablus Governor Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Ramadan, the town Mayor Iyad Khalaf, and several other members of the al-Aloul household that had held the treasured possession.
The Turkish ambassador thanked the Aloul household for faithfully conserving the pouch and expressed his happiness for visiting the town of Nablus and taking part within the occasion.
“The Turkish and Palestinian peoples have so much in widespread. We had been separated 100 years in the past, nevertheless it was an administrative separation. Our hearts stay all the time collectively, this treasure from the previous shall be an emblem of friendship and customary historical past,” Demirer stated.
Through the ceremony, Ragheb al-Aloul, 74, instructed the story that his father instructed him a number of years in the past.
Chatting with Al-Monitor, Aloul stated that his father was pals with an Ottoman officer who requested his assist in conserving a private possession. He gave the bag to his brother Omar, a widely known service provider in Nablus, to maintain it till the officer’s return.
He stated that the pouch contained 152 Turkish liras, courting again to Oct. 18, 1331 AH, with Turkish phrases inscribed on them however in Arabic letters. The notes bear the signature of Sultan Muhammad Rashada, or Mohammed V. The notes had been saved in an iron protected within the household’s manufacturing facility.
“The pouch remained within the protected … for generations. The Ottoman officer by no means returned to take it again,” Ragheb Aloul stated. The household had been ready for a relative of the officer to return again and declare the bag, however because the years glided by and nobody confirmed up, the members of the family determined it was finest at hand it over to the Turkish authorities.
Turkey’s Anadolu Company reported Nov. 4 that Turkish consultants estimated that the notes had been value about $30,000 on the time.
Hassan Sobeih, 67, one of many dignitaries of the previous city of Nablus, instructed Al-Monitor, “The truth that al-Aloul household returned the possession is proof of the deep-rooted loyalty of this household.”
The previous city of Nablus was certainly one of three provinces established by the Ottomans within the Levant, greater than 500 years in the past, Sobeih stated, and “The city’s homes, palaces, mosques, lanes, and baths had been all constructed within the Ottoman architectural model, which exhibits the Ottoman Empire’s nice curiosity in Nablus on the time.”
Wasfi Hijazi, 61, from al-Yasmina neighborhood in Nablus instructed Al-Monitor, “The return of the Ottoman possession displays the sincerity and loyalty of Nablus’ households since historical instances. The Ottoman Empire that dominated Palestine for 4 consecutive centuries, blocked Jewish migrations to Palestine through the period of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.”
Hijazi, who was a historical past trainer in a secondary faculty in Nablus, added that underneath Ottoman rule, “Palestine witnessed a thriving interval, with the development of vast roads and railways connecting the totally different Palestinian cites, and hospices to feed the poor and needy.” He expressed hope that the household’s gesture would immediate Turkey to additional consolidate relations with Palestinians.
Palestine was underneath Ottoman rule from 1516 to 1917, when Britain occupied the territories after defeating the Ottoman military in World Warfare I.
Remnants of the Ottoman days in Nablus are seen within the previous buildings, courtyards, lanes and baths, along with the well-known clock tower, an important landmark of the Ottoman interval. It’s certainly one of seven towers erected in Palestine in 1901 to have fun the twenty fifth anniversary of the ascension of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
