Figure 1.-- This antique print originating from a folio of works published as 'Eternal Jerusalem' by Nacham T Gidal (knonn as Tim) about 1950. The photographs were takem much earlier, before 1917. Most seem to be from the late-19th and early-20th century. The images portray Jewish life in Jerusalem before World War I with images taken by many different photographers. Gidal who grew up in Germany as the NAZIs were rising to power and was a remarkble photographer, but the image here is part of his collection pf old phographs of Jews in Europe and the Middle East taken by others. Gidal is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern photojournalism. Given that photograohy was only unvented in 1839 and we see very images from the Middle East until the 1860s, these images come from the Ottoman era. The photograph here is a group of Yemeni Jews thathad someway made it to Jerusalem. Notice only the men and boys of the family are pictured, except for a very young girl.

The Otomans proved more of a threat than the British. The British were just after a port. The Ottomans wanted to restablish their control of the entire province. The Qasimid imamate did not have the power or modern arms to stop either. The Ottomans quickly seized lowland Yemen (1848). There was support for the Ottomans among the urban merchant class, oth Arab and Jewish. The Qasimid state was disintegrating and the ensuing chaos and fisorderwas bad for business. Ottoman rule would not only stabilize conditions, but open up commercial opportunities throughout the Empire. There was mostly resistance, however, in the tribal areas outsude the cities. It took longer to gain some control of the inland highlands tribal areas (1872). The opening of the Suez Cnal increased Ottoman interest un aden. The Ottoman gained control of the cities and coastal area, but never completely quash Yemeni resistance. Jewish life improved during Ottoman rule as it had during the earlier Ottoman era. Ottoman authorities respected Jewish freedom of religion to a greater degree than the Yeminis were prone to do. Yemeni Jews were able to establish contact with with other Jewish communities. The Ottoman made some effort to secularize Yemeni society. Jews for the first time began to see themselves as real members of Yemeni society. The problem here is that secularization did not progress far in Yemen. Yemenis continued to hold on to the sme Islamic outlook tht had persisted for more than a millennium. And most Yemenis as part of tht outlook continued to see Jews as a despised minority. Ottoman attitides toward the Jews were in part simple imperial ruling policy. Large minorities (the Balkan Christians, the Anatolian Armenians, and the Arabs) were a threat. Yemeni Arab resistance opposing the Ottomans for centuries was a good example. The Jews were such a small minority that they did not pose a threat and could be relied on to remain loyal. At the same time Yemeni Arabs continued to look down on Jews. And the general poverty of Yemen affected Jews and Arabs alike. The Yemenis did not succeed in driving out the Ottomans until the British World War I Palestine campaign and Arab Revolt (1917-18).

Created: 6:51 AM 2/28/2016
Last updated: 6:52 AM 2/28/2016