Daher al-Umar

Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Zahir al-Umar or Dahir al-Umar (Arabic: ظاهر العمر الزيداني, romanized: Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775), was the paramount sheikh of the Zayadina family and the strongman over northern Palestine from the 1730s until his death in 1775, during Ottoman rule. At the zenith of his power in 1774, his control extended across the Syrian coast from Jaffa to Sidon, though formal recognition of his status was limited to that of a multazim (tax farmer).

In 1730, despite being the youngest of his brothers, Daher emerged as the leader of his family, whose members often served as multazims in their home region, the Galilee. With Bedouin support, he took over Tiberias and over the next decade, successively gained control of Safed, Nazareth and the adjoining districts. He and his family fortified the Galilee's towns and villages, most notably Deir Hanna, helping them withstand sieges by the governor of Damascus in 1742–1743. By then, Daher dominated the area's cotton crop and eventually monopolized its high-demand trade with European merchants. In c. 1750, he developed the small port of Acre into his headquarters and the outlet for this trade, amassing substantial wealth in the process. He expanded his holdings to Haifa and its environs in the 1760s, earning him the enmity of the new governor of Damascus, Uthman Pasha. In Daher's struggle against the latter, he allied with Egypt's increasingly independent mamluk strongman, Ali Bey, and the Shias of southern Lebanon. Their military campaigns ousted Uthman Pasha and his sons from Damascus and Sidon, culminating with Daher's victory at Lake Hula and occupation of Sidon in 1771.

Daher's fortunes turned in 1772 with the ouster of Ali Bey and then his killing by his deputy Abu al-Dhahab in 1773. Despite this setback, Daher, with support from the Russian navy, occupied Jaffa, allied with the Druze emir Yusuf Shihab, and dislodged the Ottomans from Beirut. By early 1774, the Ottomans' supreme army chief in Syria, Uthman Pasha al-Wakil, granted him the malikane (life-term tax farm) of Sidon province and the iltizam (tax farms) of most of Palestine, though this was soon voided by the new sultan. In March 1775, Abu al-Dhahab ousted Daher from Acre, but after his sudden death, Daher returned to power. In August, the Ottomans, freed up from their six-year war with Russia, blockaded Acre and eliminated Daher. By late 1776, Zaydani power was altogether eliminated by Sidon's new Acre-based governor, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, with the killing of Daher's son Ali.

Daher oversaw an efficient administration and maintained domestic security, though he contended with several rebellions by his sons as they vied to position themselves as his successor. The aforementioned factors, along with Daher's flexible taxation policies and battlefield reputation earned him the goodwill of the local peasantry. Daher invited Christian and Jewish immigrants to his domains from across the empire, stimulating the local economy and leading to the significant growth of the Christian communities in Acre and Nazareth and the Jewish community in Tiberias. Under his rule, northern Palestine's main centers, Acre, Haifa, Tiberias, and Nazareth, urbanized and prospered after long periods of decline. With Acre's restoration and the reestablishment of Haifa, Daher significantly strengthened the Galilee's ties with the Mediterranean world, which continued under Jazzar. Daher's practically autonomous rule over much of Palestine has made him a national hero among Palestinians today.