What is "falastin"

Falastin, sometimes transliterated Filastin, was a daily newspaper circulated between 1911–1967 in the Ottoman Mutassarifate of Jerusalem ( Palestine), Mandatory Palestine and under Jordanian occupation of West Bank. Published from the coastal city of Jaffa, the principal founders (who also edited and owned the paper) were Issa El-Issa and his cousin Yousef El-Issa.

The newspaper is often described as one of the most influential newspapers in Ottoman and British Palestine, and probably the country's fiercest and most consistent critic of the Zionist movement. It helped shape Palestinian identity and was shut down several times by the Ottoman and British authorities, most of the time due to complaints made by Zionists.

Both El-Issas were Arab Greek Orthodox, opponents of British administration and Zionism, while supporting pan-Arab unity, Committee of Union and Progress and Palestinian nationalism. Later, Issa El-Issa's nephew, Daoud El-Issa took the general manager position. In 1967, Daoud El-Issa and Issa's son Raja El-Issa merged Falastin with Al-Manar newspaper to produce Jordanian based Ad-Dustuor newspaper in Amman. Raja El-Issa was the founder and first chairman of the Jordan Press Association and Daoud El-Issa became one of the association's members in 1976.