Daoud Isa

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Daoud Isa (1878-1950) was born in Jaffa. As a prominent poet and journalist in Ottoman Palestine he founded the newspaper Filastin with his cousin Joseph. This bi-weekly newspaper was one of the most prominent and long running in the country at the time, it was dedicated to Arab Nationalism and the cause of the Arab Orthodox in their struggle with the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem. He was passionatly opposed to Zionism and Jewish immigration. Exiled during World War I, he became chief of the royal court in Damascus during Amir Faisal's government where he used to stipulate that the Damascus newspaper publishers devote half the columns of their papers to the Palestinian cause before giving them their monthly allowance. He was elected to the 7th Congress of the Arab Executive Committee in June 1928 for Jaffa. He became a member of the oppositional National Defense Party (mu'arada faction) in the Arab Executive Committee in 1932; known as moderate politician he headed several Arab Christian-Orthodox conferences in Palestine and TransJordan. His son Raja Al-Isa continued to publish the newapaper. Daoud died on 29 June 1950 in Beirut.