Najib Nassar

Najib Nassar was a Palestinian journalist, editor and political writer who founded the Arabic newspaper Al-Karmil in Haifa in 1908. From its pages he criticised Ottoman centralisation, warned against Zionist land acquisition and argued for Palestinian and Arab political awareness.

Nassar helped establish political journalism in Palestine. Through Al-Karmil he documented land questions, criticised colonial and nationalist policies, and contributed to the formation of an explicitly Palestinian public sphere. Najib Nassar was born in Ayn Unub, Mount Lebanon, Ottoman Empire and died in Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine.

Ibrahim Nasrallah’s Time of White Horses incorporates Najib Nassar into its multi-generational Palestinian history as one of the documented public figures surrounding the fictional village of Hadiya. His presence connects the villagers’ local experience of late Ottoman rule, British occupation and growing conflict over land to the emergence of a wider Palestinian political press. Rather than making him the protagonist, the novel uses a recognisable journalist and activist to tie family memory to the developing national arguments of the early twentieth century.