1834 CE Fellahin Revolt Quake

English translation from Greek by Spyridon (1938)

from Spyridon (1938:92-93)

ANNALS OF PALESTINE, 1821-1841

S. N. Spyridon
(Jerusalem)

FOREWORD.

When first I came upon what we call the Mar Saba Collection of Manuscripts, I was greatly elated, yet at the same time depressed. I rejoiced in reading the homely tale of Palestine to be found in these Greek manuscripts. But then, while these manuscripts may be accessible to many at the Greek Patriarchate, Jerusalem, the language is a standing difficulty. The manuscripts are in the Greek tongue, which, although once official in Palestine, is now a dead language to most of the inhabitants of this country. Hence the necessity of translating the manuscripts into a better known medium.

An immense store of information is locked up in the Greek manuscripts of the convents of Mar Saba, Mount Sinai, Mount Athos, and the Phanar, and awaits the diligence of a scholar. The present volume, which the editor hopes to be the forerunner of others, is a translation of a part of a manuscript by the Monk Neophytos. We know very little about the life of the author, except the scanty information we can glean from his own works. From his other writings we know that he came to Jerusalem from Cyprus in 1801 and that he was still writing in 1846. Here and there, throughout this volume, we get a glimpse of his life. He very probably came to Jerusalem when young and certainly learned the Arabic tongue. His Greek, though very distant from the language of Homer, is still literary. His writings have a human interest all through; in particular there is a great freedom of a great freedom of expression when speaking of the religious communities or, as he calls them, "nations"; he is frank with the candour of a child, yet he never means to be offensive. For this reason the editor has neither suppressed nor changed anything in the translation, even where he decidedly disagrees with the author's opinions. The translation- is very literal, often at the expense of the English.

The translator is especially grateful to Archbishop of Ascalon, Vassilios, Keeper of the Mar Saba Manuscripts, who has kindly given access to the text. He also wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Fr. Eugene Hoade O.F.M. whose collaboration has made the work possible.

... INSURRECTION OF THE MOSLEMS OF JERUSALEM, JUDAEA. SAMARIA AND SURROUNDING DISTRICTS (APRIL 28th, 1834).

In those days there was a great uprising in all Arabia, and' in all the villages around Jerusalem, in Judaea and Samaria for the people revolted against Ibrahim Pasha, the Egyptian overlord.

These were the causes of rebellion. On the 4th day of Diakainesimos (Easter Wednesday) April 25th, Ibrahim Pasha convoked all the leading men and notables of the districts of Samaria and Judaea and put to them the following questions: "As we, Moslems, have as perpetual enemies the Nazarene nations, is it or is it not necessary for us to have a big standing army?" They replied: "Yes, undoubtedly it is necessary.'

The Pasha continued: "If so, from whom shall we take men for this army, from the Christians or from the Moslems?"

Thy replied: 'From the Moslems, assuredly.'

He said: 'You have answered rightly. Therefore it is necessary for you, if you are true Moslems and wish the welfare of the nation, to send in your young men from every city and from every village, so that they may learn from their youth the art of war and be trained in it, and so be ready in case of need."

Silence fell upon the meeting and for long they thought of the replv : "Your order be upon our heads, but there is no need for us to give our boys and young men for war. When the enemy of our religion enters our country, all of us young and old, will go out and fight and willingly shed our blood for our faith and our fatherland."

The Pasha replied: "How do you expect to wage war if you know not the art thereof: "

They replied : "This art of war, known to our grandfathers, who withstood the enemy and defended their country until now, is also known to us, and as they once did, so we also hope to do in the future.''

The Pasha replied: "War is not the place for a herd of useless men : technique and skill are required. This is my decision. One young man shall be taken from every five Moslems, who shall be trained in the regular tactics of war. This order I want carried out without delay, beginning here in Jerusalem."

Briefly, the idea of the Pasha was to get 3,000 young men from the three districts, of Jerusalem, Judaea and Samaria, and a proportionate 200 from the city of Jerusalem.

All the Moslems of these districts were greatly disturbed and knew not what to do. Coming together, some of them decided to revolt, saying: "It is far better to die with our arms in our hands than to give our beloved children to everlasting slavery, without the hope of ever seeing them again. "

On Easter Saturday, in the evening, a message was brought to the Pasha saying that in the village of Abu Dls near Bethany some people had died of plague.

THE DEPARTURE OF IBRAHIM PASHA FOR JAFFA AND THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY THH FELLAHEEN (APRIL 28tli-MAY 27th, 1834.)

The Pasha, fearing lest his army should be infected by the plague and because he felt the planning of a revolt, left for Jaffa on Sunday after Easter, for he had with him only a few soldiers. He gave out that it was his fear of the plague which caused him to depart. He left a thousand soldiers in Jerusalem to protect the city and the citadel. As soon as the Jerusalemites and the fellaheen heard of the departure of the Pasha, they gathered together from all parts and held council secretly as to whether they should obey the order of the Pasha or revolt. Despite their party feuds, they unanimously decided to revolt.

On Wednesday, May 8th, they surrounded Jerusalem, and forbade the people to leave or enter the city. Soon, about ten thousand men from Samaria, Hebron, Judaea and Jerusalem had gathered to the ranks. On Thursday morning, they sent a message to the soldiers in the citadel and on the city walls that they should quit Jerusalem and go wherever they wished. The Bimbashis (Majors) and the Miralais (colonels) replied that they had no intention of leaving but would resist until death. The fellaheen then began to fire on the city walls with their rifles and to attack, the city, but they were easily repulsed by the regular soldiers within the city.

At the beginning, some of the Jerusalemites showed themselves on the side of the Pasha, others said they were indifferent, but secretly, all of them, as time proved, were on the side of the fellaheen. The fellaheen kept up a continual fire on the walls, night and day, so that the soldiers became tired of the long duty, and the officers decided to withdraw all the men to the citadel and leave the city walls to be defended by the citizens of Jerusalem. The Bimbashi asked the notables of the city to come to him and he explained the situation to them. They replied that it was not a wise policy for them to fight against the fellaheen and they pleaded all kinds of excuses, but especially the lack of arms. The Bimbashi and his officers were quite aware of the fact that the Jerusalemites and the fellaheen were in agreement on the question of the revolt, so lie said to them:

"I want to know if you are on the side of the Pasha or with the fellaheen.''

They replied : "May it never come to pass that we should be on the side of the fellaheen, we are the force of our Effendi, the Pasha etc.''

The Bimbashi therefore said to them: "If you will be faithful to the Pasha, I will make you the promise that the Pasha will not seek one man from the city of Jerusalem for the army-'' They gave him so many promises and assurances that he went to the Court and wrote with his own hand promising that he would remain and defend Jerusalem to the end, and that he would not demand one man for the army. This he signed, and the Mullah was witness and surety.

The above took place on Saturday morning. The fellaheen with the fugitives from Jerusalem kept up their attacks on the city and attempted to capture it. Then the Bimbashi and the Miralais brought into action the cannon on the citadel and on the walls, and quickly beat back the fellaheen.

At six o'clock on Sunday morning, May 13th, there was an earthquake. It lasted but three seconds, but it was so violent that the dome of the Catholicon was cracked in seven places and all the plaster fell off.

The big dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was shaken, but being of wood and well bound together, it was not greatly damaged,^1a Many big houses in Jerusalem were cracked and many fell. Part of the city wall, near the Mosque of Omar, fell. A minaret fell in Jerusalem, and another one on the Mount of Olives, as did the dome of the Shrine of the Ascension. In Bethlehem the monasteries of the Franks and the Armenians and ours were greatly damaged, especially the belfry. By God's mercy the beautiful Church of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the new pilgrim-house, was not damaged^1b.

The fellaheen got frightened at the earthquake and stopped firing for the moment, but the next day they began again, and so did the cannon from inside. This continued until Saturday. Then the people of Silwan and the fugitives from Jerusalem remembered that there was an old sewer, now closed up for many years, leading into the city. They gathered near the Dung Gate 2 and with great difficulty they excavated and found the exit of the sewer which opens within the city at a mill in the Jewish quarter. On Sunday morning thirty-six daring young fellaheen and some from Jerusalem, holding their swords in their hands, jumped up into the mill; thence they ran to the Dung Gate, and breaking the locks, they threw it open. The fugitives of Jerusalem and the fellaheen poured into the city quickly without a word. The Bimbashi, being informed, quickly summoned, with drums and trumpets, all his soldiers who were on the walls and shutting the Gate of the citadel, they took up their position on the battlements beside the cannon and made ready for the attack. Then the people of Jerusalem, who said that they did not have any arms, appeared fully armed and joined the fellaheen.

Footnotes

1a Three supports were broken near the base. The belfry and the arches were shaken. Many of the cisterns in Jerusalem were cracked and the water hewed out of them.

1b The wall of the Church was cracked near where the Armenians celebrate. The tower of St. John Damascenus in the monastery of St. Saba was completely cracked.

Report by the Monk Neophytos