Akram Zuaiter (1909–1996) (Arabic: أكرم زعيتر ; also Romanized as Akram Zu'ayter, among other spellings) was a Palestinian activist, publicist, orator, diplomat, and educator who contributed to the Arab nationalist movement in Mandatory Palestine.[1][2][3]
Biography
editHe was born in Nablus and was the son of an Opposition politician.[4] He attended the American University of Beirut.[4] He worked for the major Palestinian newspapers Mir'at al-Sharq and al-Hayat and also taught at al-Najah school.[4][1]
He was a founding member of the Istiqlal Party and played an instrumental role in the development of nationalism in Palestine during the 1930s.[4][5][6] He authored the text Ta'rikhuna ("Our History") in 1935. He also supported transnational Arab nationalist organizing in Syria and Iraq, coordinating with the League of Pan-Arab Action and Nadi al-Muthanna in each country respectively. In 1941 he participated in the revolt in Iraq led by Rashid Ali al-Kaylani.[1] He also lectured at the Teachers' Training College in Baghdad.[3]
Following the Nakba, Zuaiter served in the Jordanian government as ambassador to Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and Lebanon, followed by a year as Jordanian foreign minister (1966) and then in the Jordanian Upper House of Parliament and as chief of the Royal Court.[1]
He published the text al-Qadiyya al-Filastiniyya ("The Palestine Cause") in 1956.[1] In 1979, his papers were published as Watha'iq al-Haraka al-Wataniyya al-Filastiniyya 1918–1939 ("Documents on the Palestinian National Movement 1918–1939"), edited by Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout, and his diaries were published in 1980.[7][6][1]
Views
editZuaiter espoused a nationalist philosophy of opposition to British administration of Palestine, taking a "hard line" that resulted in his arrest and detention by the British colonial government in 1931 and 1936. He was a staunch Arab nationalist and advocate of pan-Arabism.[1][6][8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Muslih, Muhammad. "Zu'aytir, Akram." In Encyclopedia of the Palestinians Encyclopedia of the Palestinians (Revised Edition), edited by Philip Mattar, 566-567. Infobase Learning, 2005.
- ^ "The King-Crane Commission of 1919". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
- ^ a b Khalidi, Walid. Before Their Diaspora : A Photographic History of the Palestinians, 1876-1948. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1991, 177.
- ^ a b c d Matthews, Weldon C. Confronting an Empire, Constructing a Nation : Arab Nationalists and Popular Politics in Mandate Palestine, I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2006, 51, 68.
- ^ "Establishment of the Istiqlal Party (2 August 1932)". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
- ^ a b c Rubenberg, Cheryl A. Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012, 646, 1128.
- ^ "Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout - Scholars and Historians (1937 - )". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
- ^ "Muhammad Izzat Darwaza - Writers and Novelists (1887–1984)". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2024-11-18.