Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Born in Jerusalem in 1860, landowner; worked as tax collector during the Ottoman times, held different administrative posts and became head of the Education Dept. in Adana, then in Jerusalem. helped developing schools during the late Ottoman era .
He was involved in the Ottoman Dept. of Publication Censorship. built himself a luxurious home in Sheikh Jarrah in 1897 with a special façade especially designed for the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in 1898 (the house soon became known as the New Orient House Hotel, and more recently, as the headquarters of the PLO in Jerusalem or the ‘Orient House’).
Source
Achievements and Awards
Became Head of the Jerusalem Education Dept. in 1901, collected and exhibited pieces reflecting the impressions of foreign Orientalists on Palestinian customs and traditions, for which he dedicated six rooms in the Sultani School in Jerusalem and was assigned to found the Arab-Ottoman Brethren Society in Jerusalem in 1908.
He shifted his allegiance to the British after the Mandate; welcomed the Zionist mission headed by Weizmann, which arrived in Palestine in April 1918. rented land in Ein Sinya, north of Ramallah, in 1906 to Jewish Russian immigrants (the Shertok family - parents of Moshe Sharett, who became a Zionist leader and second Israeli PM). He earned an oil share in Southern Palestine from the Standard Oil Company; included his name as a member of the British Board of Advisors established in 1923 but withdrew after most Palestinian notables opposed it; his involvement in direct politics waned after that; died in 1945.
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