Al Liwaa (newspaper)

Al Liwaa
TypeDaily newspaper
PublisherJamal al-Husayni
Founded2 December 1935
Political alignmentArab nationalism
LanguageArabic
Ceased publication1939
HeadquartersJerusalem
CountryMandatory Palestine

Al Liwaa (Arabic: اللواء, romanized: Al-Liwaa⁩, lit. 'The Banner') was a daily newspaper which was published in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, from 1935 to 1939. It supported the Al Husayni family of Palestine. It was one of the six leading newspapers in the Mandatory Palestine during the 1930s.[1]

History and profile

Al Liwaa was founded in Jerusalem in 1935, and its first issue appeared on 2 December 1935.[2] Jamal al-Husayni was its publisher who was the leader of the Palestine Arab Party.[3] Khalid al-Farakh managed the paper.[2] It was edited by Emil Ghuri and George Salah al-Khoury.[2] Othman Qassim, and Mahmud Chirqas also served as editors of the paper[4] which featured both local and international news.[3]

Al Liwaa was mostly read in cities and was not popular among rural Palestinians.[3] It was financed by the Supreme Muslim Council.[3] The paper adopted a nationalistic political stance[3] and was close to the Palestine Arab Party.[5] Therefore, it was among the supporters of the Al Husayni family[1] and was a fierce critic of the British rulers whom it blamed for the sale of lands to the Jewish migrants.[3]

Al Liwaa sold nearly 3,000–4,000 copies in 1936.[1] It was banned by the British authorities in 1937 for a long period due to the "publication of matter likely to endanger public peace."[6] The paper folded in 1939.[4]

Some issues of Al Liwaa are archived by the National Library of Israel.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Mustafa Kabha (2003). "The Palestinian press and the general strike, April–October 1936: Filastin as a case study". Middle Eastern Studies. 39 (3): 170. doi:10.1080/00263200412331301727. S2CID 145466351.
  2. ^ a b c d "Al Liwaa". National Library of Israel. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Walaa AlGhussein (2020). Mandated to Report: The Role of the Nationalist Press in Reporting Zionist Land Expropriation and Labor Conquest in Palestine During the 1930s (MA thesis). City University of New York. pp. 24–26, 31.
  4. ^ a b Sarah Ozacky-Lazar; Mustafa Kabaha (2002). "The Haganah by Arab and Palestinian Historiography and Media". Israel Studies. 7 (3): 58. doi:10.1353/is.2003.0008. JSTOR 30245595.
  5. ^ Laura Robson (2011). Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-292-72653-6.
  6. ^ "Mandate for Palestine – Report of the Mandatory to the LoN". United Nations. Retrieved 7 January 2024. The report is dated 1937