Issa Daoud El-Issa (
Arabic: عيسى داود العيسى, his surname also spelt al Issa and Elissa; 1878 – 29 June 1950)[a] was a
Palestinian 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.[1]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.[2] 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.[3]
Biography
Issa El-Issa was born to the
Palestinian ChristianEl-Issa family.[4] Exiled during
World War I, al-Issa became chief of the
Arab Kingdom of Syria's royal court in
Damascus 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
Palestinian cause as prerequisite to receiving their monthly salaries.
His son
Raja El-Issa succeeded him as the publisher of Falastin. On 29 June 1950, al-Issa died in
Beirut,
Lebanon.[5][3][6][7][8] Issa once experienced an assassination attempt in August 1936.[9]
Notes
^The
name Issa means Jesus in Arabic, and Daoud means David.