Najib Nassar (January 1, 1865 – December 28, 1947) was a
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
perhaps best known as the owner-editor of, and frequent contributor to, the Palestinian weekly newspaper ''
Al-Karmil
al-Karmil ( ar, خربة الكرمل) is a Palestinian village located twelve kilometers south of Hebron. The village is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank, within Area A under total Palestinian control.Gideon Levy and Alex Levac'Bitt ...
.'' Historian Rashid Khalidi describes him as "a pioneer among Palestinian and Arab journalists" due to "the sophistication and tenaciousness of his
opposition to Zionism."
Early and personal life
Nassar was born in a mountain village called
Ein Einub (or Ain Ainoub),
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. The family left the village in the middle of the 19th century. Nassar was educated in Lebanon. His religious background was
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
.
Early on in his adult life, Nassar worked as a pharmacist for the Scottish Hospital in
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...
.
In 1927, he married
Sadhij Bahaa, herself known as a leading defender of women's rights in Palestine and as the daughter of
Mirza Badiʻu'llah Effendí.
The couple ran ''Al-Karmil'' jointly thereafter.
Nassar died in the French Hospital in
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
following a hernia operation on December 28, 1947. He was buried in the city's
Greek Orthodox
The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
cemetery.
Journalism and politics
In 1908, Nassar became the founding editor of ''
Al-Karmil
al-Karmil ( ar, خربة الكرمل) is a Palestinian village located twelve kilometers south of Hebron. The village is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank, within Area A under total Palestinian control.Gideon Levy and Alex Levac'Bitt ...
'', the first
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...
weekly newspaper in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. It was first published in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
in December 1908. He was involved in the formation of an association in Haifa with the aim of preventing implementation of
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
plans and colonial activities in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. He warned against land sales to
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and
Zionists
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Jew ...
. In 1911, he published the first book in Arabic on Zionism, entitled ''al-Sihyuniyya: Tarikhuha, gharaduha, ahamiyyatuha''
'Zionism: Its History, Objective and Importance'' The book consisted of an abridged translation of the article on Zionism from The
Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
plus critical commentary by Nassar.
Nassar was a part of the political opposition in the waning days of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and was imprisoned in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
by Ottoman authorities in 1918. He established the Arab Party in
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
in the same year. He maintained his Ottoman loyalty all his life, but called himself a Palestinian patriot. Nassar wrote several novels and plays as well as numerous critical articles on Zionism, and he was an outspoken critic of Turkish-led Ottoman politics. He traveled to
Karak Karak may refer to:
Places
* Al-Karak or Kerak, city and Crusader castle in Jordan
** Karak Governorate, Jordan
* al-Karak, Syria, city in Syria's Daraa Governorate
* Karak Nuh, village in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
* Karak, Iran (disambiguation) ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, in 1924 with Jordanian poet
Mustafa Wahbi At-Tal
Mustafa Wahbi Tal ( ar, مصطفى وهبي التل; 25 May 189924 May 1949), also known by his pen name Arar ( ar, عرار), was a Jordanian poet, writer, teacher and civil servant, widely regarded as Jordan's most prominent poet and among th ...
, calling for Arab unity.
Historian
Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Ismail Khalidi (; born 1948) is an American historian of the Middle East and the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He served as editor of the ''Journal of Palestine Studies'' from 2002 until 2020, when ...
places Nassar among "the intellectuals, writers, and politicians who were instrumental in the evolution of the first forms of Palestinian identity at the end of the
9th
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
century and early in the
0th
0th or zeroth may refer to:
Mathematics, science and technology
* 0th or zeroth, an ordinal for the number zero
* 0th dimension, a topological space
* 0th element, of a data structure in computer science
* Zeroth (software), deep learning softwar ...
century," a group Khalidi characterizes as having "identified with the Ottoman Empire, their religion, their Arabism, their homeland Palestine, their city or region, and their family, without feeling any contradiction, or sense of conflicting loyalties."
Legacy
Nassar's life provided the inspiration for the 2010 book ''A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle'' by
Raja Shehadeh
Raja Shehadeh (born 1951) is a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and writer. He co-founded the award-winning Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq in 1979. In 2008, he won the Orwell Prize, Britain's pre-eminent award for politic ...
, and he was featured in esteemed Palestinian writer
Ibrahim Nasrallah's 2009 novel ''Time of White Horses.''
In 2019, the
Palestinian National Theatre
The Palestinian National Theatre or El-Hakawati Theatre ( ar, المسرح الوطني الفلسطيني) is a Palestinian-owned theatre in Jerusalem's American Colony neighbourhood, near New Orient House. The theatre has been serving to activ ...
produced a play about his life called “''Saheb Al-Karmil''” (“Owner of Al-Karmil”) written by
Amer Hlehel
Amer may refer to:
Places
* Amer (river), a river in the Dutch province of North Brabant
* Amer, Girona, a municipality in the province of Girona in Catalonia, Spain
* Amber, India (also known as Amer, India), former city of Rajasthan state
** Am ...
.
References
See also
Palestine theater pays homage to country's pioneer journalist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nassar, Najib
1865 births
1947 deaths
Palestinian journalists
Palestinian Christians
Anti-Zionism in Mandatory Palestine