Campos 245popular excitement in the aftermath of the revolution, as well as placing
themselves at the forefront of the Ottomanist and Ottomanizing program.
e contemporary observer, the Jewish journalist Nissim Malul, On
noted that in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the Arab press
uniformly expressed the belief that the revolution brought “redemption
[ge’ulah] to the Ottoman people [‘am] in the Ottoman lands, without dif-
ference to religion and nationality [le’om].”^29 Indeed, the press served an
important function in defining and promoting a nascent Ottoman nation-
alism based on equality among religious and ethnic groups, seen as vital
to reforming the empire. For Jurji Habib Hanania, editor and publisher of
al-Quds [Jerusalem], the Ottomanist project was at the front and center of
his newspaper’s objectives: “Circumstances require the establishment of
a press that will plant the seeds of brotherhood and work all together for
equality whose aims are service to the homeland, not to take advantage of
the differences of one another.”^30
Other newspapers established immediately after the revolution also
committed themselves to this project. Al-Taraqqi [Progress], established
in Jaffa in September 1908, informed its readers that it aimed to serve the
homeland [wat.an] and humanity; enlighten minds; prepare the people
for economic changes while limiting the negative effects of those changes;
and support the principles of brotherhood, justice, and equality.^31
est there be any doubt about who the public was, and more L
importantly, what the public’s relationship was to itself and to the state,
the Palestinian press consistently attempted to create and reinforce the
“Ottoman nation/people” [al-umma al-‘uthmāniyya]. The Ottoman nation
was much more than the sum of its parts; it was an entirely new entity
molded by the constitution and the new era. As the Jerusalem-based law-
yer Ragheb al-Imam declared:
The Ottoman elements who were of different peoples
entered through the melting pot of the constitution [būdaqat
al-dustūr] and came out as one bullion of pure gold which is
Ottomanism, which unites the hearts of the nation [umma]
and brings together their souls.^32n the first dizzying months of the revolution, the newspapers faith-I
fully recorded the numerous demonstrations, speeches, and ceremonies