Dhaher El-Omar

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Dhaher El-Omar (Arabic ظاهر العمر الزيداني zāhir al-`umar az-zaydānī, born ca. 1690, died August 21, 1775) was the Arab-Bedouin ruler of the Galilee district of the southern Levant or Palestine region during the mid-18th century. The founder of modern Haifa, he fortified many cities, among them Acre.

Dhaher was born to a family of local notables in the Tiberias area, with strong connections to Arab-Bedouin tribesmen in the Galilee district, which at that time was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Soon Dhaher rose to the rank of Sheikh and leader of his tribe. At first he became the ruler of the Safed area, but quickly the borders of his territory reached Tiberias. Accounts from that time tell of the great admiration which the people had for Dhaher, especially for his war against bandits on the roads.

Dhaher, similar to many other strong local leaders under the Ottoman Empire, was disliked by the Ottoman administration. The Ottoman Sultan sent an order to the governor of Damascus to put an end to Dhaher's rule in the Galilee. In September 1742, a military force led by the governor of Damascus came to the Galilee and laid siege to Tiberias. 83 days later, the siege was lifted due to observance of Ramadan. In July 1743 the governor returned with a larger force. A month later the governor died of kidney disease and the siege was lifted for good.

After the threat from the Ottoman administration was removed, Dhaher again expanded his realm. Dhaher turned west and took control over surviving Crusader fortresses. Acre was taken over and fortified by Dhaher, and became the main city of the area he governed. When Haifa was conquered by Dhaher, its location wasn't considered defensible, so that the city was razed and rebuilt at a new location 3 km away, with improved fortifications and a new seaport. Now controlling the major seaports in the area, Dhaher made contact with Maltese pirates. Dhaher and the pirates agreed to barter the stolen goods they took — the pirates from different ships they looted, and Dhaher from his looting of travelers to Damascus and Mecca.

Dhaher (unlike many governors and rulers in the middle east at the time) was very aware of the importance of a flourishing economy to provide a stable basis for his rule — he tried to refrain from squeezing the peasants with extortionately excessive taxes, and established a state monopoly on cotton-growing in the Galilee. The city of Acre underwent an economic boom (partly based on its role in exporting cotton grown in the Galilee to France).

In 1768, the central Ottoman authorities partially recognized or legitimized his de facto position by granting him the title of "Sheikh of Acre, Amir of Nazareth, Tiberias, Safed, and Sheikh of all Galilee".

From 1769 to 1775, Dhaher got involved in a war that led to his downfall. In 1750, his friend Ali Bey Al-Kabir was appointed the governor of Egypt and soon got into an argument with the Ottoman administration. Assassins were sent to kill Ali Bey, for fear of him attempting to rebel against the Ottoman Empire (1769). In response, Ali Bey declared Egypt to be an independent country. Dhaher helped Ali Bey by blocking an Ottoman force heading south to suppress the rebellion in Egypt. Bey sent a force of 30,000 which conquered most of Palestine and Damascus from November 1770 to June 1771. After the troops arrived at Damascus (with help from Dhaher) in 1771, the commander of the troops, Abu al-Dhahab, refused to continue fighting against the Ottomans, and turned against Ali Bey. When these troops returned to Egypt, Ali Bey fled to Acre to shelter under Dhaher's protection. The combined forces of Dhaher, Ali Bey, and Russia (which was at war with the Ottoman Empire that time) kept the majority of the Galilee free of Ottoman influence, and Dhaher was able to temporarily extend his rule along the coast as far south as Jaffo and as far north as Sidon. In 1773 Ali Bey returned to Egypt, but was defeated by the rebels against his authority and died. In 1774, the war between Russia and the Ottomans came to an end, and Dhaher was left without any outside support. The Ottomans ordered Abu al-Dhahab to attack Dhaher from Egypt, but Abu al-Dhahab died suddenly before this could happen, so the Ottomans launched a mainly naval invasion instead, besieging Acre. Dhaher's capital city of Acre was captured by the Ottomans in August 1774, and a year later Dhaher died in an attempt to flee on August 21, 1775.