Personal Info
- Country of residence: Syria
Information
Youssef Al-Issa (1870-1948), a Palestinian journalist residing in Damascus, was one of the founding fathers of the National Bloc in Syria and the owner of the Damascus newspaper Alif Baa, which opposed the French mandate .
the beginning
Youssef Al-Issa was born in the city of Haifa and studied in its public schools. With his cousin Issa Al-Issa, he launched a daily newspaper called “Palestine” in 1911. Then he went to Damascus when it was liberated from Ottoman rule, where he founded the daily newspaper Alif Ba , whose first issue was published on September 1, 1920, more than a month after the imposition of the French mandate on Syria.
Establishing the national bloc
Youssef Al-Issa cooperated with Syrian leaders to establish the National Bloc to fight the mandate by all legal and peaceful means, and he attended its founding meeting in Beirut on October 25, 1927, at the invitation of its founding president, Hashim Al-Atassi . When it began its political work during the 1928 elections, Alef Baa newspaper was placed at the disposal of the National Bloc and remained its mouthpiece until the French forces evacuated from Syria on April 17, 1946.
Youssef Al-Issa's editorials reflected the thought and orientations of Hashim Al-Atassi in all national positions, and were only matched in terms of influence on public opinion and reach by Gibran Tueni's articles in the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar . When Hajj Amin al-Husseini’s revolution was launched in Jerusalem in 1936, Youssef al-Issa, in cooperation with Shukri al-Quwatli and Hajj Tawfiq al-Qabbani , established a committee to support the Palestinian cause from Damascus, whose mission was to collect donations and weapons for the Palestinian revolutionaries .
Death
Youssef Al-Issa died at the age of 78 in 1948, and the editorship of Alef Ba newspaper went after him to his son Khaled Al-Issa.
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Achievements and Awards
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