Karya perintis Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth dan Kamal Abdulfattah (1977) mengenai Geografi Sejarah Palestin, Transjordan dan Syria Selatan pada akhir abad ke-16, yang berdasarkan daftar Uthmaniyyah terperinci (mufassal defter), menggambarkan wilayah-wilayah ini sebagai 'zon sempadan' di bawah pemerintahan Uthmaniyyah. Pada abad ke-18, di Palestin, pashalik Safad (wilayah Safad) dan Galilea secara keseluruhannya merupakan contoh 'wilayah sempadan' serta pangkalan kuasa bagi kuasa tempatan Palestin yang sedang bangkit di bawah pemerintahan Uthmaniyyah secara nominal.

Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth and Kamal Abdulfattah’s (1977) seminal work on the Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century, based on a detailed Ottoman register (mufassal defter), describes these regions as ‘frontier zones’ under Ottoman rule. In 18th century Palestine, the pashalik of Safad (province of Safad) and Galilee as a whole were a case of ‘frontier province’ and a power base for a rising Palestinian local power under nominal Ottoman rule.

Bermula pada zaman Mamluk, sistem cukai Iltizam telah diinstitusikan oleh Uthmaniyyah pada abad ke-15 dan dilaksanakan melalui pemajakan hasil cukai awam. Negara Uthmaniyyah akan menyerahkan kutipan cukai kepada pihak luar dengan melelong hak cukai kepada penawar tertinggi (multazim), yang kemudiannya memperoleh keuntungan, selalunya secara boros, daripada kutipan cukai di peringkat tempatan. Multazim membuat bayaran kepada negara secara ansuran tetap, sambil mengekalkan keuntungan itu. Penyerahan sistem cukai Iltizam ini merangkumi pemajakan cukai tanah dan cukai bandar, pengeluaran barangan tertentu seperti arak dan garam, malah penyediaan perkhidmatan awam tertentu. Penyerahan cukai Iltizam tanah di bawah Uthmaniyyah, yang menyerupai sistem iqta'a di bawah Fatimiyyah, melahirkan golongan elit tempatan yang kaya dan ketua tempatan yang berkuasa di Palestin dan di seluruh rantau ini. Sistem ini secara rasmi dimansuhkan dalam reformasi (Tanzimat) pada tahun 1856, tetapi pada hakikatnya terus berjalan sehingga berakhirnya pemerintahan Uthmaniyyah di Palestin (Yazbak 1998: 72‒73). Sistem Iltizam sangat menguntungkan dan sangat menindas, serta selama berkurun-kurun menjadi sumber manfaat besar bagi golongan elit tempatan yang berkuasa di bawah Mamluk dan Uthmaniyyah (Abdul Rahmam dan Nagata 1977).

Appearing first under the Mamluks, the Iltizam taxation system was institutionalised by the Ottomans in the 15th century and was carried out by the farming of public tax revenues. The Ottoman state would outsource tax collection by auctioning taxation rights to the highest bidder (multazim), who would then profit, often profligately, from collecting the taxes locally, make payments to the state in fixed instalments, while keeping the profit. This outsourcing of the Iltizam tax system included the farming of land taxes and urban taxes, the production of certain goods such as wine and salt, and even the provision of certain public services. The outsourcing of the land Iltizam tax under the Ottomans, which resembled the iqta’a system under the Fatimids, gave rise to rich local elites and powerful local chieftains in Palestine and throughout the region. Formally abolished in the course of the reforms (Tanzimat) of 1856, but, in reality, continuing until the end of Ottoman rule in Palestine (Yazbak 1998: 72‒73), the ltizam system was very profitable and highly exploitative and was for many centuries of great benefit to powerful local elites under the Mamluks and Ottomans (Abdul Rahmam and Nagata 1977).

Aspek-aspek tertentu daripada kesan sistem pemajakan Uthmaniyyah (iltizam), bersama-sama pertumbuhan autonomi tempatan dan kebangkitan ketua-ketua berpengaruh di Palestin, khususnya dalam konteks "wilayah sempadan", juga dapat dilihat pada kebangkitan terdahulu raja-raja Arab sekutu Ghassaniyyah (phylarch tertinggi).

Certain aspects of the impact of the Ottoman tax farming system, with the growth of local autonomy and rise of powerful chiefs in Palestine especially within the context of ‘frontier provinces’, can also be seen in the previous rise of the Ghassanid Arab federate kings (supreme phylarchs)

dari "wilayah sempadan" Palaestina Secunda dan Palaestina Tertia pada abad ke-6 dan awal abad ke-7, serta kebangkitan pemimpin-pemimpin Jarrah dari suku Badwi Banu Tayy di bawah pemerintahan Fatimiyyah, sehingga kekalahan tentera mereka oleh Anushtakin al-Dizbari, Gabenor Tentera Palestin, pada tahun 1029 M.

of the ‘frontier provinces’ of Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Tertia in the 6th and early 7th centuries and in the rise of the Jarrah leaders of the Bedouin tribes of Banu Tayy under the Fatimids, until their military defeat by Anushtakin al-Dizbari, the Military Governor of Palestine, in 1029 AD.

Kebangkitan Dhaher al-ʿUmar yang luar biasa di Galilea pada abad ke-18 juga merupakan contoh yang tepat. Keupayaannya untuk mengutip cukai dengan cekap, mengumpulkan dan mengetuai tentera dengan berkesan, membentuk pakatan dengan jayanya serta menguatkuasakan undang-undang dan ketenteraman, dalam konteks wilayah sempadan Galilea, semuanya merupakan sebahagian daripada faktor yang menjelaskan kebangkitannya berkuasa di Palestin abad ke-18.

The spectacular rise of Dhaher al-ʿUmar in Galilee in the 18th century is also a case in point. His ability to collect taxes efficiently, raise and command an army effectively, forge alliances successfully and enforce law and order, within the context of the ‘frontier province’ of the Galilee, were all part of the mix which explains his rise to power in 18th century Palestine.

Palestin paling hampir mencapai kemerdekaan sebagai negara berdaulat pada zaman awal moden adalah hasil gabungan dinamisme perdagangan Palestin dan pemimpinnya yang legendaris, Dhaher al-ʿUmar, serta pengabaian berterusan oleh Empayar Uthmaniyyah. Hamulah (puak) Zaydani milik Dhaher al-ʿUmar muncul dari kawasan pedalaman luar bandar dan pinggiran negara itu, dari pashalik Safad, sebuah "wilayah sempadan" di bawah kedua-dua pemerintahan Mamluk dan Uthmaniyyah, bukan dari pusat-pusat bandar utama negara itu mahupun golongan elit sosial bandar Palestin yang umumnya menyokong Uthmaniyyah. Dilahirkan di kampung ʿArrabah di tengah-tengah Galilea, al-ʿUmar tidak berasal daripada golongan aristokrat pemilik tanah bandar tradisional Palestin dan, tidak seperti para notabel tempatan (ʿayan), beliau tidak berhutang kesahihan kuasanya kepada pihak berkuasa pusat Uthmaniyyah. Ahli-ahli keluarga al-ʿUmar pernah berkhidmat sebagai multazim (pemungut cukai) tempatan di bandar-bandar wilayah Tiberias dan Safad dalam pashalik Safad, dan beliau sendiri memulakan kerjayanya sebagai pedagang dan pemungut cukai pajakan di bawah sistem Iltizam Uthmaniyyah (Krämer 2011:

The closest Palestine got to early modern independent statehood was a result of both commercial dynamism of Palestine and its legendary leader Dhaher al-ʿUmar and the continued neglect of the Ottomans. The Zaydani clan (hamulah) of Dhaher al-ʿUmar emerged from the Palestinian countryside and periphery of the country, from the pashalik of Safad, a ‘frontier province’ under both the Mamluks and Ottomans, not from the traditional major urban centres of the country or the generally pro-Ottoman urban social elites of Palestine. Born in the village of ‘Arrabah in central Galilee, al-ʿUmar did not come from the traditional urban landowning aristocracy of Palestine and, unlike the local notables (‘ayan), he did not owe his legitimacy to the central Ottoman authorities. Al-ʿUmar’s family members had served as local multazims (tax collectors) in the provincial towns of Tiberias and Safad in the pashalik of Safad and he himself had begun his career as a trader and tax farmer under the Ottoman Iltizam system (Krämer 2011:

60). Tetapi sistem cukai tanah Iltizam Uthmaniyyah di Palestin sangat menindas dan zalim terhadap golongan petani, dan seperti yang akan kita lihat di bawah, sistem cukai baharu al-ʿUmar serta pemerintahannya yang berpandangan sosial progresif jelas mendapat sambutan di kalangan petani Palestin. Beliau banyak mengurangkan kuasa golongan pembesar bandar dan 'kelas pemangsa' yang telah mengaut keuntungan daripada kumpulan sosial yang lemah, terutamanya petani. Al-ʿUmar pernah menerima pendidikan formal, tetapi nampaknya beliau sebahagian besarnya belajar sendiri, dan kecekapan kewangan serta pengalaman praktikalnya sebagai pemungut cukai yang cekap pada peringkat awal kerjayanya sangat bernilai. Namun, kebolehan politik, ketenteraan, ekonomi, diplomatik dan percukaiannyalah yang menjadikan beliau mungkin pemimpin paling berkuasa dalam sejarah moden Palestin. Kebangkitannya berkuasa bermula di kawasan luar bandar Galilea, dan ibu pejabat pertamanya ialah Tiberias di Galilea Timur, bukan pusat bandar tradisional negara itu: Nablus, Baitulmaqdis dan Gaza. Selepas berjaya memberontak terhadap negara Uthmaniyyah dan mengukuhkan pemerintahannya, al-ʿUmar secara berkesan menjadi pemerintah berdaulat bagi sebahagian besar Palestin. Berikutan kemenangan ketenteraannya di Marj ibn ʿAmer pada tahun 1735, ribuan penduduk tempatan, termasuk ramai penduduk Nazareth, menyertai angkatannya. Dilaporkan antara penyokongnya di Galilea terdapat ramai penganut Kristian tempatan, termasuk wanita Kristian dari Nazareth yang membekalkan makanan dan air kepada tenteranya (Joudah 1987: 28‒31). ‘Sepanjang tiga dekad berikutnya, kedudukan Zahir al-Umar menjadi sedemikian tinggi sehingga beliau mendapati mungkin untuk membentuk pakatan sementara dengan kerajaan Rusia dan bekerjasama dengan Mamluk di Mesir’ (Doumani 1995: 42).

60). But the Ottoman Iltizam land tax system in Palestine had been highly exploitative and oppressive towards the peasantry and, as we shall see below, al-ʿUmar’s new taxation system and his socially enlightened regime were evidently popular among the Palestinian peasantry. He substantially reduced the power of the urban notables and ‘predatory classes’ that had fed upon vulnerable social groups, especially the peasants. Al-ʿUmar had received some formal education but he appears to have been largely selftaught and his early career, financial competence and practical experience as an efficient tax farmer were of critical value. But it was his political, military, economic, diplomatic and taxation skills which made him perhaps the most powerful leader in modern Palestinian history. His rise to power began in the Galilee countryside and his first headquarters was Tiberias in Eastern Galilee, not the traditional urban centres of the country: Nablus, Jerusalem and Gaza. After rebelling successfully against the Ottoman state and consolidating his regime, al-ʿUmar became effectively the sovereign ruler of much of Palestine. Following his military victory at Marj ibn ‘Amer in 1735, thousands of local people, including many residents of Nazareth, joined his forces. Apparently among his Galilee supporters were many local Christians, including Christian women from Nazareth who provided his troops with food and water (Joudah 1987: 28‒31). ‘Over the next three decades Zahir al-Umar’s stature became such that he found it possible to forge temporary alliances with the Russian government and to cooperate with the Mamluks in Egypt’ (Doumani 1995: 42).