Al-Ittihad (Israeli Newspaper)

Al-Ittihad began as the official journal of the National Liberation League in Palestine. The National Library of Israel identifies Emile Touma, Tawfiq Toubi, Fuad Nassar, and Emile Habibi as its founders, and dates the first issue to 14 May 1944; it appeared weekly on Fridays.[1] A reference account likewise describes it as a weekly founded in 1944 by activists close to the Arab Workers Congress.[5]

The paper’s early editorial history is not described consistently in the sources. The National Library names Emile Touma as owner and editor-in-chief at the time it became the Israeli Communist Party’s official publication in September 1948.[1] A separate reference identifies Emil Toma as its first editor and Habibi as his successor, while another biographical entry dates Habibi’s appointment as editor-in-chief to 1944.[5][6] The available accounts do not resolve this difference.

After May 1948, the National Library says the paper appeared “Bi-Weekly,” with Emile Habibi as its main editor, and describes it as currently printed daily.[1] Other references report that it became a daily in 1983 or in the early 1980s.[5][7] A 2006 interview also describes it as a daily, while a reference biography calls it a bi-weekly periodical without specifying the period.[3][8] These descriptions leave the exact chronology of its publication frequency unclear.

The National Library characterizes Al-Ittihad as the only independent Arab newspaper published before 1948 that continued to appear, and as the only non-governmental Arab newspaper published under the Israeli Military Governorate from 1948 to 1966.[1] A chapter in Arab Media Systems similarly describes it as the first Palestinian newspaper to continue after 1948, and reports that Israeli forces closed it several times.[9] The chapter places the newspaper’s experience within a wider account of military censorship and the displacement or destruction of much of the Palestinian newspaper industry after 1948.[9]

During the Mandate period, Al-Ittihad was not primarily a breaking-news paper. It refrained from publishing local news and cultural or musical events, concentrating instead on political editorials, anti-colonialist Communist messaging, working-class unity, and workers’ rights.[1] It also issued English and Armenian supplements. The Armenian supplement was aimed at members of the Armenian community aligned with its Communist ideology.[1]

The National Library and the Washington Institute identify the paper as an Arabic-language publication of the Israeli Communist Party.[1][10] The Jewish Virtual Library lists it among the remaining party newspapers and describes it as an Arabic-language Communist newspaper.[11] One reference says it supported the United Nations’ 1948 partition decision, describing that position as full support.[5] This is a claim made by that reference account; the material supplied here does not provide the newspaper text or further context for the position.

Al-Ittihad also served as a venue for literary work. A reference account lists it among the Arabic newspapers and periodicals in which Palestinian writers and critics published between 1967 and 1987, and notes that literary activity during the 1987–2005 period found expression in the daily paper’s literary supplement.[2] The same account identifies the Communist Party as one factor in the advancement and revival of Arabic literature in Israel after 1948.[2] Accounts of the newspaper’s community of writers include Emile Habibi, Mahmoud Darwish, and Sami Michael.[7]

The paper’s political identity remained part of its public profile in later decades. In a 2000 interview, editor Dr. Ahmad Saad said it had continued as a Communist newspaper after the Soviet Union’s collapse, while other newspapers in the Middle East had closed or become monthlies. He described its mission as extending beyond Marxist ideas to expressing the Arab struggle for justice and equality.[7] These were Saad’s descriptions of the paper’s purpose and position. A 2006 interview with editor Dr. Ahmed Saad likewise characterized it as the newspaper of the Israel Communist Party and as reflecting party policy.[3]

Al-Ittihad’s coverage supplies a record of political debates as well as a window into the paper’s own institutional setting. A Washington Institute publication reproduces a report in the newspaper dated 24 October 1978, concerning resolutions adopted at a Gaza National Conference on 16 and 18 October.[10] The excerpt rejects self-government under the Camp David agreement, arguing that it failed to meet the minimum demands and rights of the Palestinian Arab people and lacked guarantees for freedom, return, and self-determination.[10] It described the plan as “obscure, ambiguous and complex.”[10] The excerpt is attributed to Al-Ittihad, but it does not establish that the newspaper itself endorsed the resolution.[10]

The paper’s political affiliations and editorial independence also appear in accounts of its operations. A 2000 report says it faced administrative closure orders in the 1960s and 1980s, received no government advertising until the Rabin government, and later shifted to commercial distribution from a period when party members had distributed copies.[7] The same article describes its standing as having risen and fallen with that of the Communist Party in different areas.[7] A later account of a former journalist’s career says he was fired in 1999 after publishing an article critical of the party leadership.[12]

The newspaper’s public character was described in differing terms over time. The National Library presents it as an unusually persistent independent and non-governmental Arab newspaper in the periods it discusses.[1] In a 2006 interview, its editor described it as a daily and as the newspaper of the Israel Communist Party.[3] The Jerusalem Post called it the only independent Arabic daily “at the time,” while an Encyclopedia.com reference says it was Israel’s only Arabic-language daily for a long period and became a daily in 1983.[12][5] These descriptions refer to different contexts and do not establish one timeless claim about the paper’s exclusivity.

Al-Ittihad’s editorial offices were located in Wadi Nisnas, Haifa, in the same Arab house from the newspaper’s founding, according to a 2000 account.[7] That account described the office as having a worn, distinctly Communist interior.[7] A later Ynet report described the nearby editorial office as displaying images of Marx and Engels.[4] The paper’s historic building also housed an archive of newspaper editions and other accumulated material, including pre-state volumes, photographs, and certificates.[3]

Before the 2006 Lebanon war, renovation work had begun at the historic building and the editorial staff had moved to a location about 100 meters away.[3] During the war, a rocket directly hit the building in Wadi Nisnas, damaging part of the newspaper archive.[4] The editor expressed anger over the damage, and accounts noted the building’s significance to writers including Habibi and Samih al-Qassem.[3][4]

The National Library of Israel’s online archive covers issues dated from 14 May 1944 through 31 October 2017. Its holdings comprise 9,426 issues and 120,445 pages.[1] The library page’s description of the newspaper as currently printed daily is separate from the dated range of the digitized holdings; the archive listing alone does not establish publication after October 2017.[1]

The sources leave several points about Al-Ittihad’s history unresolved. The National Library and the newspaper-specific reference differ or remain unclear about the sequence of its early editors.[1][5] Other biographical references date Habibi’s editorship differently and use an undated bi-weekly description.[6][8] The National Library’s historical descriptions of the paper as the only continuing independent pre-1948 Arab newspaper and the only non-governmental Arab newspaper under the Military Governorate are source-specific superlatives, rather than claims established comparatively by the material provided here.[1]

Politically charged statements in the record should retain their attribution. The 1978 Camp David passage is a reproduced conference resolution, not proof of the newspaper’s endorsement.[10] The editor’s characterization of the 2006 Lebanon war was his stated view.[3] The report that Israeli forces closed the newspaper several times is attributed to the Arab Media Systems chapter, which does not give dates in the cited passage.[9]