Raja Issa El-Issa () (1922 – December 1, 2008) 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 ...

journalist.

Early life

El-Issa was born in

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 ...

to the prominent Palestinian Christian El-Issa family. The family is known for its 'intellect, politics and literature'. Eleven years before his birth, his father Issa El-Issa founded the pioneering '' Falastin'' newspaper.

Career

El-Issa took the managers position of the newspaper after his father's death, and later became the first chairman of the ''Jordan Press Association'' in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, 1956. The slogan El-Issa advocated in the press sector for nearly a quarter of a century was the saying of

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa () is one of the names of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Moustafa * Moustafa A ...

: "Freedom is not dear to a people who work to obtain it. They strive to achieve it... the rock melts and crumbles as the water falls on it drop by drop." On Falastin, The newspaper continued to be published in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

until 1967 when it was merged with ''Al-Manar'' to produce the Jordanian-based '' Ad-Dustuor'' newspaper based in Amman, which is still published today. El-Issa wrote an influential opening editorial for the paper in 1967 titled “''Between Me and Her, Companionship and Life''.” It reflects on his childhood dreams, the emotions of a bully, and youthful determination. As El-Issa said, On the attempted assassination of his editor-in-chief by rebel elements,

Personal life

El-Issa was married to Nadia, a Syro-Lebanese woman''.'' He died on 1 December 2008 at the age of 86 in Amman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Issa, Raja el 1922 births 2008 deaths Eastern Orthodox Christians from Palestine 20th-century Palestinian journalists Palestinian newspaper publishers (people) People from Jaffa Palestinian nationalists 20th-century newspaper publishers (people)