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In Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, 15 June 1896, Herzl saw an opportunity. With the assistance of [[Count]] Philip Michael von Nevlinski, a [[Polish people|Polish]] émigré with political contacts in the Ottoman Court, Herzl attempted to meet Sultan [[Abdulhamid II]] in order to present his solution of a Jewish State to the Sultan directly.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_6VSVuzCagC&dq=philip+von+nevlinski&pg=PA47|title=The Jewish State|first=Theodor|last=Herzl|date=2012|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-11961-8 |accessdate=17 August 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref> He failed to obtain an audience but did succeed in visiting a number of highly placed individuals, including the Grand Vizier, who received him as a journalist representing the ''Neue Freie Presse''. Herzl presented his proposal to the Grand Vizier: the Jews would pay the Turkish foreign debt and help Turkey regain its financial footing in return for Palestine as a Jewish homeland. Prior to leaving Istanbul, 29 June 1896, Herzl was granted a symbolic medal of honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=7 |title=Time Line |publisher=Herzl.org |access-date=26 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118225438/http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=7 |archive-date=18 January 2012 }}</ref> The medal, the "Commander's Cross of the [[Order of the Medjidie]]," was a public relations affirmation for Herzl and the Jewish world of the seriousness of the negotiations.
In 1 March 1899 [[Yousef al-Khalidi|Yousef Al-Khalidi]], the mayor of Jerusalem, sent a letter to [[Zadoc Kahn|Zadok Kahn]], the chief rabbi of France, with the intention to reach Herzl and ask Zionists to leave the area of Palestine in peace.{{efn|{{lang|en|"I flatter myself to think that I need not speak of my feelings towards Your people. As far as the Israelites are concerned [...], I really do regard them as relatives of us Arabs; for us they are cousins; we really do have the same father, Abraham, from whom we are also descended. There are a lot of affinities between the two races; we have almost the same language. Politically, moreover, I am convinced that the Jews and Arabs will do well to support each other if they are to resist the invaders of other races. It is these sentiments that put me at ease to speak frankly to You about the great question that is currently agitating your people.
Five years later, 17 May 1901, Herzl met with Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=8 |title=Time Line |publisher=Herzl.org |access-date=26 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118224857/http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=8 |archive-date=18 January 2012 }}</ref> who turned down Herzl's offer to consolidate the Ottoman debt in exchange for a charter allowing the Zionists access to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].<ref>Friedman, Isaiah. "Herzl, Theodor." ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 63. ''Gale Virtual Reference Library''. Web. 22 January 2016</ref>▼
You are well aware that I am talking about Zionism. The idea in itself is only natural, beautiful and just. Who can dispute the rights of the Jews to Palestine? My God, historically it is Your country! And what a marvellous spectacle it would be if the Jews, so gifted, were once again reconstituted as an independent nation, respected, happy, able to render services to poor humanity in the moral domain as in the past!
Unfortunately, the destinies of nations are not governed solely by these abstract conceptions, however pure, however noble they may be. We must reckon with reality, with established facts, with force, yes with the brutal force of circumstances. But the reality is that Palestine is now an integral part of the Ottoman Empire and, what is more serious, it is inhabited by people other than only Israelites. This reality, these acquired facts, this brutal force of circumstances leave Zionism, geographically, no hope of realisation."
Excerpts from the letter from Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi to Theodor Herzl, dated March 1, 1899.
}}|name=a}}<ref>{{cite web |title=MonBalagan - 1899 : 1er mars - Lettre de Youssouf Diya 'al-Khalidi à Herzl : première opposition au Sionisme |url=http://monbalagan.com/45-chronologie-israel/des-arabes-chretiens-et-ottomans/126-1899-1er-mars-lettre-de-youssouf-diya-al-khalidi-a-herzl-premiere-opposition-au-sionisme.html?highlight=WyJsZXR0cmUiLCJoZXJ6bCIsImhlcnpsaWVubmVzIl0= |access-date=5 May 2022 |website=monbalagan.com}}</ref> Al-Khalidi was very familiar with [[Zionism|Zionist]] thought, and the anti-Semitic environment in Europe out of which it emerged. He also perceived the danger Zionism could expose Jews to throughout the domains of the Ottoman Empire.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Khalidi |first=Rashid Ismail |title=The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 |date=2020 |publisher=Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-1-62779-855-6 |edition= |location=New York}}</ref>
According to scholars [[Rashid Khalidi]], Alexander Scholch and [[Dominique Perrin]], Khalidi was prescient in predicting that, regardless of Jewish historic rights, given the geopolitical context, Zionism could stir an awakening of Arab nationalism uniting Christians and Muslims.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schölch |first=Alexander |date=2005 |title=An Ottoman Bismarck from Jerusalem: Yusuf Diya' al-Khalidi (1842-1906) |journal=Jerusalem Quarterly |issue=24}}</ref>
Kahn showed the letter to [[Theodor Herzl]] and on 19 March 1899 Herzl replied to al-Khalidi arguing that both the Ottoman Empire and the non-Jewish population of Palestine would benefit from Jewish immigration. As to al-Khalidi concerns about the non-Jewish majority population of Palestine, Herzl replied rhetorically: "who would think of sending them away?" and concluded ambiguously that "If he (the Ottoman Sultan) will not accept it, we will search and, believe me, we will find elsewhere what we need."{{efn|"{{lang|en|
"The Zionist idea, of which I am the humble servant, has no hostile tendency toward the Ottoman Government, but quite to the contrary this movement is concerned with opening up new resources for the Ottoman Empire. In allowing immigration to a number of Jews bringing their intelligence, their financial acumen and their means of enterprise to the country, no one can doubt that the well-being of the entire country would be the happy result. It is necessary to understand this, and make it known to everybody.
As Your Excellency said very well in your letter to the Grand Rabbi, the Jews have no belligerent Power behind them, neither are they themselves of a warlike nature. They are a completely peaceful element, and very content if they are -left in peace. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing to fear from their immigration.
The question of the Holy Places?
But no one thinks of ever touching those. As I have said and written many times: These places have lost forever the faculty of belonging exclusively to one faith, to one race or to one people. The Holy Places are and will remain holy for all the world, for the Moslems as for the Christians as for the Jews. The universal peace which all men of good will ardently hope for will have its symbol in a brotherly union in the Holy Places.
You see another difficulty, Excellency, in the existence of the non-Jewish population in Palestine. But who would think of sending them away? It is their well-being, their individual wealth which we will increase by bringing in our own. Do you think that an Arab who owns land or a house in Palestine worth three or four thousand francs will be very angry to see the price of his land rise in a short time, to see it rise five and ten times in value perhaps in a few months? Moreover, that will necessarily happen with the arrival of the Jews. That is what the indigenous population must realize, that they will gain excellent brothers as the Sultan will gain faithful and good subjects who will make this province flourish-this province which is their historic homeland."
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Returning from Istanbul, Herzl traveled to London to report back to the [[Maccabaeans|Maccabeans]], a proto-Zionist group of established English Jews led by Colonel [[Albert Goldsmid]]. In November 1895 they received him with curiosity, indifference and coldness. [[Israel Zangwill]] bitterly opposed Herzl, but after Istanbul, Goldsmid agreed to support Herzl. In [[London's East End]], a community of primarily [[Yiddish]] speaking recent [[Eastern European Jewry|Eastern European Jewish]] immigrants, Herzl addressed a mass rally of thousands on 12 July 1896 and was received with acclaim. They granted Herzl the mandate of leadership for Zionism. Within six months this mandate had been expanded throughout Zionist Jewry: the Zionist movement grew rapidly.
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