Two Faces of Palestinian Orthodoxy
This chapter talks about the meaning of denominational affiliation in the conflict between two towering intellectuals of the war period. Yusif al-Hakim was a leading Syrian judge and public prosecutor in Jaffa and Jerusalem, and a significant force in the Arabization of the Antioch Orthodox Church. His nemesis during the pre-war years was Issa al-Issa—arguably the most important journalist in twentieth-century Palestine—who founded, published, and edited the Filastin daily paper. One of Hakim's tasks as a public prosecutor was to apply the Ottoman press laws against talasun (religious blasphemy) and qadhf (defamation of character), which Issa was often accused of. It is no accident that both Issa and Hakim at the end of the war became pillars of the Faisali movement and members of the first independent Arab government in Damascus in 1919.