Personal Info
- Country of residence: Jordan
Information
Born in Bethlehem in 1891 to a Christian family; educated in Bethlehem and Jerusalem; intended to study Medicine in Montpellier but was prevented by the outbreak of WWI; studied telegraph intelligence instead and became Director of the telegraph service in Syria, Jordan and Jerusalem during Ottoman rule until 1917; worked as teacher in the Frères and Greek Orthodox Schools in Jerusalem; produced Bethlehem newspaper (together with Hanna Al-Issa) in 1919, then Sawt Ash-Sha’b magazine in 1922 (published until 1957); became representative of the Bethlehem District for the Muslim-Christian Association, condemning plans for Zionist settlement in Palestine, and for the Arab Executive Committee (1921); established the Arab Youth Club in Bethlehem (1922) and was head of the 1st Youth Congress convened in Jaffa in Jan. 1932, which adopted a nationalist charter rejecting colonization and calling for a unified effort by all Arab countries to achieve Arab independence; one of the co-founders of the Reform Party (initiated by Hussein Khalidi) in 1935; served as mayor of Bethlehem from 1933-38; was nominated (together with Nicola Khouri and Yacoub Jmei’an) by the Arab Orthodox Committee in 1943 to meet with King Faruq and King Abdul-Aziz Bin Saud to explain the Palestine Question; was appointed again as mayor of Bethlehem from 1946-18 Oct. 1951; was member of the Jordanian delegation visiting the UN headquarters in 1950; served as Ambassador of Jordan in Madrid from 1951-54, then as Jordanian commissioner in Chile from 1954-57; was unable to return to Palestine after the 1967 War; died in May 1984.
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