''Al Arab'' (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

: العرب; ''The Arabs'') was the first Arabic daily following the independence of Qatar. It was printed between 1972 and 1995 and was relaunched on 18 November 2007 as an e-newspaper which is based in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...

, Qatar.

History and profile

''Al Arab'' was established in 1972. The paper was first published on 6 March 1972 as a weekly tabloid and became Qatar's first post-independence Arabic publication. The paper is also the first political paper of the country. The founder and the first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the daily was Qatari intellectual Abdullah Hussein Nemma, known as "Dean" of the Qatari press. The publisher was Dar Al Orouba. ''Al Arab'' was converted into a broadsheet daily on 22 February 1974. It was closed down in 1995. The license of the paper was sold by Nemma's family to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani in the 1990s. It was relaunched on 18 November 2007 as online newspaper.

Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud is a Qatari engineer, journalist and author. He previously served as editor-in-chief of The Peninsula and its Arabic counterpart, Al Sharq. As a writer, his debut novel '' Al Qursan'' experienced commercial success after its ...

who also contributed to the foundation of the daily was named as editor-in-chief and served in the post until November 2009. As of 2013 Ahmed Al Romaihi was the editor-in-chief of the paper and his deputy is Mohammed Haji. In July 2020 the newspaper canceled its paper edition and continued to be published on the website.

Political stance and content

''Al Arab'' in its first period has an independent political stance. In 2013, ''

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

'' describes it as a pro-government paper. In 2009,