Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine (78 page)

^15.
Ruppin, August 8, 1908. CZA L2/49I;
Ha-Po'el ha-
a'ir
, July-August 1908.

^16.
Such was the sentiment expressed in numerous articles in the Zionist press; for example, “The Current Situation in Turkey [sic] and the Jews,” by Dr. D. Pasmiak,
Ha-‘Olam
, September 7, 1909.

^17.
“Assimilation in Turkey [sic],”
Ha-‘Olam
, December 4, 1908. A later assessment by Dr. Shim'on Bernfeld sought to reassure the readers (and leadership) that Ottoman Jews would not “sell their Judaism” by participating in Ottoman life; instead, he saw them as “natural nationalists.” “Sephardi Jews in the East,” in
Ha-‘Olam
, March 10, 1909. An article in the Sephardi journal
Ha-
erut
denounced Bernfeld's study as “superficial.”
Ha-
erut
, December 22, 1912.

^18.
Ha-Po'el ha-
a'ir
, July-August 1908. Levi was the head of the Anglo-Palestine Bank branch in Jerusalem.

^19.
Kolatt, “Organization of the Jewish Population.” Kolatt mistakenly argues that the entire pro-Zionist
yishuv
in this period was “strategically” Ottoman, choosing to conceal their Zionist aims for a long-term strategy. This was certainly the strategy adopted by the WZO, as detailed in Weiner, “Hamediniyut ha-
iyonit be-Turkiya,” but it does not accurately apply to the Sephardi and Maghrebi communities, even the Zionists among them.

^20.
Ha-Po'el ha-
a'ir
, July-August 1908. On the problems with the immigrants' foreign citizenship, see: Jacobsohn to Wolffsohn, November 8, 1909. CZA Z2/8.

^21.
While there are no reliable statistics for Jewish immigration and settlement in this period, it seems that annually approximately two thousand Jews arrived in Palestine intending to stay. According to the German Consulate in Jaffa, in 1907 there were 1,746 immigrants, while in 1908 there were 2,097, half of whom were from Lithuania and south Russia. The consulate claimed that only 247 of these immigrants went to the Jewish colonies. See Rössler report, no date. ISA 67, peh/455:462.
Ha-
erut
published similar statistics, with a sizable increase in immigrants in 1909 (2,459), of whom only 88 went to the Jewish colonies. See
Ha-
erut
, February 23, 1910. According to Hovevei Zion (the Odessa-based Zionist organization), the number of Zionist immigrants (cumulative) was
10,986. Hovevei Zion figures also estimate that around 20 percent of immigrants turned around and went back home annually.
Ha-
erut
, May 30, 1910.

^22.
Ha-‘Olam
, July 29, 1908.

^23.
Ha-Hashkafa
, August 9, 1908. See also the appeals in
Ha-
vi
, January 12 and 18, 1909, as well as the rebuttal by Barzilai that he was keeping his foreign citizenship.
Ha-
vi
, January 21, 1909.

^24.
Ha-Hashkafa
, August 7, 1908.

^25.
Ha-
vi
, January 21, 1909.