Falastin

Background Falastin was established on 14 January 1911 by Issa El-Issa and Yousef El-Issa, two Palestinian Arab Christian cousins from the coastal city of Jaffa in Palestine. It was among a handful of newspapers to have emerged from the region following the 1908 Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire which lifted press censorship. Issa El-Issa, a graduate of the American University of Beirut, worked in several places before establishing Falastin. He came from a Palestinian family known for its 'intellect, politics and literature'. Opposition to Zionism , which promised British support for the establishment of a "Jewish homeland" in Palestine. The editorial begins with "J'Accuse!", in a reference to the outrage at French anti-semitism 27 years previously. Falastin went "[f]rom publishing only a few articles on Zionism every month in its first year" to "soon publishing an article or more per issue on the subject," and the paper ultimately "came to be relied upon by newspapers throughout the region for news of Zionist colonization in Palestine." Geographic scope Its geographic scope of interest focused on the Mutassarifate of Jerusalem, primarily news from Jaffa and Jerusalem, but also less frequently Hebron, Jericho, and Gaza. The scope of interest later expanded in 1913 to include all of Palestine. The editors sent a copy of each issue to every village in the Jaffa region. ==Suspension==

in 1922 Working under the censorship of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate, Falastin was suspended from publication over 20 times. In 1914, Falastin was suspended by the Ottoman authorities, once for criticism of the Mutasarrif (November 1913) and once for what British authorities summarized as "a fulminating and vague threat that when the eyes of the nation were opened to the peril towards which it was drifting it would rise like a roaring flood and a consuming fire and there would be trouble in [store] for the Zionists." Following the first suspension in 1914, Falastin issued a circular responding to the government charges that they were "sowing discord between the elements of the [Ottoman] Empire," which stated that "Zionist" was not the same as "Jew" and described the former as "a political party whose aim is to restore Palestine to their nation and concentrate them in it, and to keep it exclusively for them." The newspaper was supported by Muslim and Christian notables, and a judge annulled the suspension on grounds of freedom of the press. After the newspaper was allowed to be republished, Issa El-Issa wrote in an editorial that "the Zionists still look at this newspaper with suspicion and consider it the greatest stumbling block that hinders their goals and informs people of their aspirations and what is discussed at their Congresses and what their leaders declare and their newspapers and magazines publish." Defending himself in the Ottoman court, he recounted saying "when we said 'Zionists' we referred to the political organisation with its headquarters in Europe which aims for the colonisation of Palestine, the usurpation of its lands and its transformation into a Jewish homeland". He emphasized his positive attitude towards Jews who he had called "brothers". The court identified with Issa and Yousef's arguments, the latter having testified in favor of his cousin Issa. The Al-Karmil newspaper reported that the crowds waiting inside and outside the courtroom erupted in applause after the verdict was pronounced, "signs of anger appeared on the faces of the Zionists much as signs of joy were visible on the faces of the natives." The French Consulate reported that jubilant crowds had carried the editors on their shoulders after the trial finished. ==Coverage of sport news==

The establishment of Falastin newspaper in 1911 is considered to be the cornerstone of sports journalism in Ottoman Palestine. It is no coincidence that the most active newspaper, also reported on sporting events. Falastin, covered sport news in Ottoman Palestine which helped in shaping the modern Palestinian citizen, bringing the villages and cities together, building Palestinian nationalism and deepening and maintaining Palestinian national identity.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125122017/http://www.jerusalemquarterly.org/ViewArticle.aspx?id=363 ==Influence==

with Sharif Ali, former king of the Hejaz at the Jaffa port, 7 November 1933. Yousef El-Issa, the newspaper's editor-in-chief during its infancy, was described by a researcher to be "a founder of modern journalism in Palestine". ==Correspondence with Albert Einstein==

On 19 October 1929, the English version of Falastin published an article titled "Relativity and Propaganda", which was brought to the attention of Albert Einstein, who engaged in a series of correspondences with the newspaper. His first letter, written in German and dating to 28 January 1930, urged cooperation between Arabs and Jews. The newspaper's editor responded to him that Einstein "was taking a heavy draft on our credulity when he asks us to take his ideal as that of the Zionist in Palestine. While believing in his peaceful intentions and his beautiful ideal, we can not judge the Zionist by Dr. Einstein". Einstein responded with a proposal in his letter dated 15 March 1930, to establish a committee of eight Arabs and Jews - a jurist, a physician, a trade unionist and a cleric from either side - that would meet on a weekly basis to sort out differences between Arabs and Jews. ==Falastin's Centennial==

"Falastin's Centennial" was a conference that took place in Amman, Jordan, in 2011. Twenty-four local, regional and international researchers and academicians examined Falastin's contribution to the 20th-century Middle East at the two-day conference, which was organised by the Columbia University Middle East Research Centre. The conference highlighted the Jordanian cultural connection to Palestine through various articles published that featured Jordanian cities and news. As the newspaper's founder Issa El-Issa was a confidant and friend of the Hashemite family, the newspaper covered the news of the Hashemites from Sharif Hussein to his sons King Faisal I and King Abdullah I and his grandson King Talal. The paper thus captured King Abdullah's relations with the people of Palestine, documenting every trip he made to a Palestinian town and every stand he took in his support against Zionism. Correspondents of the newspaper in Jordan even interviewed the King in Raghadan Palace. A participant in the conference stated that ==Gallery==

File:Falastin headquarters in Ajami neighborhood, Jaffa Palestine.png|Falastin's headquarters in Ajami neighborhood, Jaffa, 1938 File:مطابع جريدة فلسطين.png|Falastin's headquarters in Jerusalem, 1950s ==See also==