Quotation from Shukri Al-`Asali “They have begun setting up their political aims and establishing their imaginary government” — 1910

" [The Zionists] do not mix with the Ottomans, and do not buy anything from them. They own the Anglo-Palestine Bank which makes loans to them at a rate not exceeding 1 percent per annum. Every village has set up an administrative office and a school, every kaza (district) a central administration, and every district has a general administrator.
They have a blue flag in the middle of which is a Star of David, and below that is a Hebrew word meaning “Zion,” because in the Torah Jerusalem is called the “Daughter of Zion.” They raise this flag instead of the Ottoman flag at their celebrations and gatherings; and they sing the Zionist anthem. They have deceived the government with lying and falsehood when the enroll themselves as Ottoman subjects in the registers, for they continue to carry foreign passports which protect them; and whenever they go to the Ottoman courts, they produce their own passports and summon foreign protection; they settle their claims and differences amongst themselves with the knowledge of the administrator, and they do not turn to the government. They teach their children physical training and the use of arms; you see their houses crammed with weapons, among them many Martini rifles. They have a special postal service, special stamps, etc., which proves that they have begun setting up their political aims and establishing their imaginary government. If the government does not set a limit to this torrential stream, no time will pass before you see that Palestine has become a property of the Zionist Organization or its associates or of the nation mentioned above [the Jews]. "