Jerusalem Quarterly 28 [ 5 ] The Hijaz- Palestine Railway and the Development of Haifa Johnny Mansour Connecting the holy sites in the Hijaz to Istanbul via railway was a project that came to light during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdel Hamid II. He sought to demonstrate his strength and power practically by applying the concept of a greater Islamic community to a series of projects within the Ottoman Empire. He thus announced the Hijaz railway project as facilitation for Muslim pilgrims travelling to the Hijaz. Sultan Abdel Hamid II was well versed in the tools of propaganda and media available at that time. He exploited those tools to present this railway project as an important symbol in confronting Europe and its influence in the Middle East, a region that was still largely subordinate, directly or otherwise, to the authority of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Abdel Hamid II’s need for a railway, like his prior need for telegraph lines, was that they would allow him to tighten his grip on distant Ottoman states far from the centre of his rule in Istanbul, and to send Locomotives captured from the Ottomans lined up in the sidings at Haifa Station. Source: The Hejaz Railway.