Issa Daoud El-Issa (, his surname also spelt al Issa and Elissa; 1878 – 29 June 1950) was a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

poet and journalist. With his cousin Yousef El-Issa, he founded and edited the biweekly newspaper '' Falastin'' in 1911, based in his hometown of

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. ''Falastin'' became one of the most prominent and long running in the country at the time, and was dedicated to the cause of the Arab Orthodox Movement in struggle with the Greek clergy of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The newspaper was the country's fiercest and most consistent critic of the Zionist movement, denouncing it as a threat to Palestine's Arab population. It helped shape Palestinian identity and was shut down several times by the Ottoman and British authorities.

Biography

Issa El-Issa was born to the Palestinian Christian El-Issa family. Exiled during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, al-Issa became chief of the

Arab Kingdom of Syria The Syrian Arab Kingdom (, ') was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized monarchy existing briefly in the territory of Bilad al-Sham, historical Syria. It was announced on 5 October 1918 as a fully independent Arab constitutional government with the perm ...

's royal court in

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 ...

during King Faisal's government that lasted five months. During that time, he required the publishers of Damascus-based newspapers to dedicate half of their newspaper columns to the

cause as prerequisite to receiving their monthly salaries. In June 1928, Al-Issa was elected to the 7th Congress of the Arab Executive Committee (AEC) as a representative of Jaffa. During his time on the committee, he joined the National Defense Party, the opposition to Hajj Amin al-Husayni's sympathizers on the AEC. Al-Issa hosted Arab Christian-Orthodox conferences in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

and Transjordan. His son Raja El-Issa succeeded him as the publisher of ''Falastin''. On 29 June 1950, al-Issa died 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 Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Issa once experienced an assassination attempt in August 1936.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * Tamari, S., 2014
Issa al Issa’s Unorthodox Orthodoxy: Banned in Jerusalem, Permitted in Jaffa
''Jerusalem Quarterly'',

Institute for Palestine Studies The Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) is the oldest independent nonprofit public service research institute in the Arab world. It was established and incorporated in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1963 and has since served as a model for other such ins ...

Les mémoires de 'Issa al-'Issa: journaliste et intellectuel palestinien (1878-1949)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Issa 1878 births 1950 deaths Arab people in Mandatory Palestine Eastern Orthodox Christians from Palestine People from Jaffa 20th-century Palestinian journalists Palestinian newspaper founders Palestinian nationalists 20th-century journalists from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century newspaper founders