Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine (68 page)

^61.
El Paradizo
, March 16, 1909.

^62.
El Liberal
, October 15, 1909;
El Liberal
, November 15, 1909.

^63.
“Intolerable!” by Moise Cohen,
El Liberal
, November 5, 1909.

^64.
Ha-
erut
, November 5, 1909.

^65.
Notices in the press about the rise in insecurity abound:
ava
elet
, December 11, 1908;
El Liberal
, no. 8 (February 1909);
El Liberal
, July 30, 1909;
Ha-
erut
, August 2, 1909;
Ha-
erut
, August 27, 1909;
Al-Karmil
, September 25, 1912. See also: Antébi to AIU, April 18, 1909, AAIU, Israel-IX.E.26; Antébi to AIU, May 2, 1909, AAIU, Israel-IX.E.26.

^66.
See Zürcher, “Between Death and Desertion,” for a description of the horrors of Ottoman military service.

^67.
See for example
ava
elet
, November 13, 1908.

^68.
The Jews, in contrast to the Christians, were considered the “most loyal”
(en sadiq)
of the non-Muslim minority groups in this period. See Rodrigue, “Mass Destruction of Armenians and Jews.”

^69.
“Letters from Turkey [sic],”
Ha-‘Olam
, June 8, 1909.

^70.
See
Takvim-i Vekayi.

^71.
For the figures, see
Ha-
erut
, July 14, 1909, Kushner, “Ha-dor ha-aharon,” 30; and Ben-Gurion, “Erez-Israel.” During this period, non-Muslims were required to continue to pay the
bedel
for the year 1325 (1909–10), and it was not officially canceled until August 1909.
Ha-
erut
, August 2, 1909. In February 1910, however, non-Muslims were still asked to pay up their exemption tax fees for the current year.
Ha-
erut
, February 16, 1910.

^72.
Ha-
erut
, May 3, 1910.

^73.
In theory, all Ottoman men between the ages of twenty to forty, irrespective of religion, were required to serve in the Ottoman military in a combination of active duty, reserves, and provincial or local guard. Published in
El Liberal
, August 27, 1909;
Ha-
erut
, August 25, 1909; November 12, 1909; September 7, 1910; November 23, 1910. Religious leaders, students and teachers were exempted.
El Liberal
, August 6, 1909. Medical exemptions were also detailed in
Ha-
erut
, March 7, 1910; and February 3, 5, 10, 15, and 24, 1911.