''Al Hawadeth'' () was a weekly news magazine which was published in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Lebanon, in the period 1911–2014 with some interruptions. The magazine is known for its publishers and editors: Salim Lawzi who was assassinated in March 1980, and Melhem Karam, who was a veteran journalist.

History and profile

''Al Hawadeth'' was launched in Beirut in 1911. The founder was Latfallah Khyat who was also the publisher of the magazine. Salim Lawzi acquired it in 1955 and was its editor-in-chief until his assassination in 1980. It was published on a weekly basis. ''Al Hawadeth'' was temporarily stopped publication shortly after the start of unrest in Lebanon in 1958 when Lawzi left Lebanon for Syria. Following his return to Lebanon the magazine was restarted. On 30 September 1961 the offices of the magazine were attacked with the sticks of dynamite which caused slight damages. ''Al Hawadeth'' was suspended by the Ministry of Information for five days on 27 June 1962 due to the publication of an article which allegedly defamed the

Syrian President The president of Syria (), officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, is the head of state and head of government of Syria. The president directs the executive branch and serves as the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Army and Armed ...

Nazim al-Qudsi Nazim al-Qudsi (; 14 February 1906 – 6 February 1998), was a Syrian politician who served as the 14th president of Syria from 14 December 1961 to 8 March 1963. Early life and education Al-Qudsi was born in Aleppo on 14 February 1906. After gr ...

. The magazine was again temporarily suspended on 14 July 1977 for one week when its Beirut office was attacked, and following this incident Lawzi settled in the United Kingdom. ''Al Hawadeth'' continued its publication in London for a while. There an English edition of the magazine was started with the title of ''Events''. The magazine had a pro- Saudi political stance during the ownership of Salim Lawzi. Later ''Al Hawadeth'' was relocated in Beirut and owned and edited by the leading Lebanese journalist Melhem Karam until 2010. He died from a heart attack on 23 May 2010. Under his ownership its publisher was Dar Alf Leila Wa Leila which also published '' Al Bayrak'', '' La Revue du Liban'' and ''Monday Morning''. ''Al Hawadeth'' ceased publication in 2014.

Contributors, political stance and content

Syrian novelist

Ghada Samman Ghadah Al-Samman (; born 1942) is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family. Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman, a president of the University of Damascus. She is distantly rela ...

joined the magazine as a correspondent in 1969. One of the contributors of ''Al Hawadeth'' during its London period was Nahida Nakad who started her journalistic career in the magazine. Palestinian writers

Samira Azzam Samira Azzam () (13 September 1927 – 8 August 1967) was a Palestinian writer, broadcaster, and translator known for her collections of short stories. In 1948, Azzam fled Palestine with her husband and family in the Nakba. Her collections of sto ...

and

Shafiq al-Hout Shafiq al-Hout, also spelled Shafik al-Hut (; 13 January 1932 – 2 August 2009), was a Palestinian politician and writer. Born in Jaffa, he and his family fled to Beirut at the onset of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. There, al-Hout became a journali ...

were among its regular contributors. The latter was a member of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO) and the founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) based in Beirut. ''Al Hawadeth'' was a pro-Egyptian or pro-

Nasserist Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic a ...

publication which supported the

Arab Nationalist Movement The Arab Nationalist Movement (, ''Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al-Arab''), also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Arab world, particularly within the Pales ...

in the mid-1960s. During this period it extensively covered the activities of the

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

and other Palestinian groups against Israel. The magazine also functioned as a mouthpiece of the PLO and PLF in the same period. ''Al Hawadeth'' issued interviews with various leading figures. One of them was with the Saudi Arabian ruler King Faisal in August 1973 during the oil crisis. In October 1974 Prince Fahd, second deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia and later

King Fahd Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1 ...

, also gave an interview to the magazine covertly criticizing King Faisal and other radical Arab leaders using oil as a weapon against the USA. The magazine interviewed with Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

in May 1975 who declared that Egypt was planning to pay its debt to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

through the financial aid from the USA. Another significant interview published in ''Al Hawadeth'' was with Musa Al Sadr, a Shia figure, in November 1977. Al Sadr's relation with the Imperial Iran was strained due to his speech at the funeral ceremony of

Ali Shariati Ali Shariati Mazinani (, 23November 193318June 1977) was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who specialised in the sociology of religion. He is regarded as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century. He has be ...

in Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque,

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, Syria, on 26 June 1977. Because the leading Iranian revolutionaries who were against the rule of Shah

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the ...

participated in the funeral. The Palestinian author

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet. In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...

gave an interview to ''Al Hawadeth'' in Spain after he left Beirut.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawadeth 21st century in Beirut 20th century in Beirut 1911 establishments in Ottoman Syria 2014 disestablishments in Lebanon Defunct Arabic-language magazines Defunct magazines published in Lebanon Defunct magazines published in London Magazines established in 1911 Magazines disestablished in 2014 Magazines published in Beirut News magazines published in Asia Weekly magazines published in Lebanon Weekly news magazines