page_title: Zahir al-Umar
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Zahir al-Umar / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Archeological sites of Israel עברית: תמונה של מבצר שפרעם מהאיזור הצפוני, נבנה בשנות 1770 ע"י דאהר אלעומר, Original Image Name:מבצר שפרעם, Notes:מרכזי להבה 2011, Location:שפרעם
context_page_description: Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Palestine in the mid-18th century, while the area was still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire. For much of his reign, starting in the 1730s, his domain mainly consisted of Galilee, with successive headquarters in Tiberias, Arraba, Nazareth, Deir Hanna and finally Acre, in 1746. He fortified Acre, and the city became a center of the cotton trade between Palestine and Europe. In the mid-1760s, he reestablished the port town of Haifa nearby.
  Zahir successfully withstood assaults and sieges by the Ottoman governors of the Sidon and Damascus provinces, who attempted to limit or eliminate his influence. He was often supported in these confrontations by the rural Shia Muslim clans of Jabal Amil. In 1771, in alliance with Ali Bey al-Kabir of the Eyalet of Egypt and with backing from Russia, Zahir captured Sidon, while Ali Bey's forces conquered Damascus, both acts in open defiance of the Ottoman sultan. At the peak of his power in 1774, Zahir's autonomous sheikhdom extended from Beirut to Gaza and included the Jabal Amil and Jabal Ajlun regions.
context_section_description: Zahir's rule radically changed the landscape of Galilee. With the restoration and re-fortification of Acre and the establishment of the secondary port city of Haifa, Galilee significantly strengthened its ties with the Mediterranean world. Following Zahir's death, his successor Jazzar Pasha maintained the cotton monopoly Zahir had established and Galilee's economy remained almost completely dependent on the cotton trade. The region prospered for decades, but with the rise of the cotton market in the southern United States during the early-mid 19th century, European demand shifted away from Palestine's cotton and because of its dependency on the crop, the region experienced a sharp economic downturn from which it could not recover. The cotton crop was largely abandoned, as were many villages, and the peasantry shifted its focus to subsistence agriculture.
  In the late 19th century, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Claude Reignier Conder wrote that the Ottomans had successfully destroyed the power of Palestine's indigenous ruling families who "had practically been their own masters" but had been "ruined so that there is no longer any spirit left in them". Among these families were the "proud race" of Zahir, which was still held in high esteem, but was powerless and poor. Zahir's modern-day descendants in Galilee use the surname "Dhawahri" or "al-Zawahirah" in Zahir's honor. The Dhawahri clan constitute one of the traditional elite Muslim clans of Nazareth, alongside the Fahum, Zu'bi and 'Onallas families. Other villages in Galilee where descendants of Zahir's clan live are Bi'ina and Kafr Manda and, prior to its 1948 destruction, al-Damun. Many of the inhabitants of modern-day northern Israel, particularly the towns and villages where Zahir or his family left an architectural legacy, hold Zahir in high regard.
  
  Although he was mostly overlooked by historians of the Middle East, some scholars view Zahir's rule as a forerunner to Palestinian nationalism. Among these scholars is Karl Sabbagh, who asserts the latter view in his book Palestine: A Personal History, which was widely reviewed in the British press in 2010. Zahir was gradually integrated into Palestinian historiography. In Murad Mustafa Dabbagh's Biladuna Filastin (1965), a multi-volume work about Palestine's history, Zahir is referred to as the "greatest Palestinian appearing in the eighteenth century". The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) radio station, Voice of Palestine, broadcast a series about Zahir in 1966, praising him as a Palestinian national hero who fought against Ottoman imperialism. Zahir is considered by many Arab nationalists as a pioneer of Arab liberation from foreign occupation. According to Joudah 
  However historians may look at Shaykh Zahir al-'Umar and his movement, he is highly respected by the Arabs of the East. In particular the Palestinians consider him a national hero who struggled against Ottoman authority for the welfare of his people. This praise is reflected in the recent academic, cultural and literary renaissance within Palestinian society that has elevated Zahir and his legacy to near-iconic status. These re-readings are not always bound to historical objectivity but are largely inspired by the ongoing consequences of the Nakba. Still it is precise to say that Shaykh Zahir had successfully established an autonomous state, or a "little Kingdom," as Albert Hourani called it, in most of Palestine for over a quarter of a century.
caption: The fortress of Shefa-'Amr, built by Zahir's son Uthman
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