Ottomans and Zionists in Istanbul1

Abstract

The last chapter focuses on how Istanbul became the place both Palestinians and Jews set out to claim the homeland, where vibrant debates over Zionism took place in the Ottoman Parliament and within Istanbul’s Turkish press. It was the place where Jewish immigrants to Palestine came to study in university and Palestinian members came to lobby against the growing fear of Jewish hegemony in Palestine. It was here that the Zionists could argue for an autonomous homeland in Palestine, while making new allies and meeting opponents as well. This new political atmosphere also greatly affected the local Jewish population in Istanbul, which remain divided over Zionism and faced a new growing sense of antisemitism.