Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
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There are many who stand out with their personalities, and many who worked for Palestine after the Sykes-Picot divisions, but Omar Effendi Zuaiter (or Sheikh Omar Zuaiter of Algeria), planted two cultural and political statures that worked for Palestine and had a great influence in terms of documenting the events of the Palestinian issue or translating its activities and educating the generation with foreign books . .
One of his sons was the sheikh of Arab translators, the scholar Adel Zuaiter, who studied in Istanbul and then in France until his doctorate, and before that his father was keen to teach him about the sheikh of the Arabic language in Beirut, Sheikh Mustafa Al-Ghalayini, and the political writer Akram Zuaiter, the most famous person who documented the events of the Palestinian issue and its diaries in the twentieth century. He received his education at the American University of Beirut, despite the financial hardship that befell their father in the last days of his life, when he died at the age of only 52 years. One of his grandchildren was a poetDirector of the PLO office in Rome, Wael Zuaiter, who was assassinated by the Mossad in Italy in 1972.
He was the last mayor of Nablus during World War I and the beginning of the British Mandate period, a member of the public administration council in Beirut, and one of the city’s prominent notables. He was born in Nablus in 1872. He lost his father when he was a young boy, and he was taken care of by his uncle, the jurist and scholar Sheikh Muhammad Zuaiter. After completing his primary studies, he studied Arabic and jurisprudence from the most famous scholars of Nablus, and obtained a teaching license from his professor, the scholar Sheikh Musa Soufan Al-Qaddoumi.
He was appointed as a teacher at the Rashidiya School in Nablus, and ran for the position of fatwa in the city, but the Ottoman government opposed his appointment to that position. He was appointed to the Court of Law in Nablus. He was elected a member of the Municipal Council, then a member of the Nablus Board of Directors in 1914. Then he was elected to represent Nablus in the General Council of the State of Beirut in 1915. The General Council was more like a representative council for the state, and was formed after the restoration of the constitution in 1908. Then he was elected Chairman of the Beneficial Committee (Works). And agriculture, and he was known for demanding the rights of his region in urban projects. He participated with others in establishing what was called the “Association” to resist the tyranny of the government and those with feudal family influence.
He was appointed mayor of Nablus. When the Ottoman government sensed danger in the fall of 1918 and decided to withdraw the army from Nablus, Sheikh Omar took the initiative to establish a tight security apparatus and conduct security patrols. Then he formed a government in which he appointed directors of the judiciary, security, finance, health, and knowledge. When the British forces occupied Nablus (9/22/1918), they recognized the Nablusian government established by Sheikh Omar, and this government continued to assume its powers until the British administration was established a month and days later. The "government" played a role in alleviating the burden of war on citizens, and securing and facilitating the affairs of the groups of immigrants who were displaced from the coast, especially from Gaza and Jaffa to Nablus, to escape the oppression of the British forces.
During his presidency of the municipality until his death, he made urban, social, and political achievements: eliminating disputes between families, closing the national ranks, defending national rights before the mandate authorities with courage and ability, representing the Nablus Brigade in expressing the demands for independence to the American King-Crane Dispensing Committee, and appointing the General Syrian Congress as its representative. In Damascus, to speak on behalf of the people.
He carried out an urban renaissance that was manifested in the opening of streets, paving and planting roads, establishing an orphanage and Al-Irfan School, and preparing a water distribution network and lighting the city.
He played a major role in establishing the Supreme Islamic Council, to administer Islamic endowments and the Sharia judiciary instead of the mandate authority. He was nominated to head the aforementioned council, but he supported the nomination of Muhammad Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, for this position.
Omar Effendi remained in his position until he died in 1924. After an illness that was said to be cancer in the neck, and it was said to be an ulcer in the intestines, the doctors treated him for a month and a few days, during which the country’s delegations did not stop coming to his clinic and asking about him.
Sheikh Omar was one of the self-made people who prevailed with his genius and excellent personality. He was the focus of people’s attention when they turned to him to solve their problems and served them with their lives, money and influence. In his meetings with people, he was friendly, sweet-talking, and gentle. He was a zealous patriot, wise, and sober. These praiseworthy qualities earned him the love of the people and the respect of the rulers at the same time. Perhaps the best beneficial effect he left behind was the establishment of an orphan school in Nablus, and he, may God have mercy on him, used to watch over it and cover it with his compassion and care.
Omar Adel said: I was told by my family and relatives that the painful sight that breaks hearts is the sight of the students of the orphan school, which included more than a hundred orphans, male and female, as they walked in front of the coffin carrying wreaths and chanting: My Lord, O Lord of humanity, we pray to you, and the heart is broken, with great forgiveness and
pardon
. The deceased in Nablus, Omar
, as for his poetry, it is limited and not published, but poetic discussions used to take place in his council and he participated in them personally. Among them is what I mentioned in a previous article about the father of the poet Abdel Rahim Mahmoud, the poet Mahmoud Abdel Halim.
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