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| Abdelbari Atwan's portrait on the jacket of one of his books and next to al-Quds al-Arabi's logo |
Overnight, I was shocked to read Abdelbari Atwan
tweeting he was resigning from all his posts in the London-based pan-Arab
newspaper
al-Quds al-Arabi, promising
to elaborate in his farewell editorial this morning.
I choked up reading his parting words to his thousands of
readers:
There is nothing harder than biding farewell to ones loving
readers, especially for someone like me whose loyalty throughout his
quarter-of-a-century-long journalistic journey never let a day pass without
writing.
I did not want this parting moment to coincide with
the first day of the Holy Month of Ramadan, but circumstances and other sides
played a role in this decision.
Today brings to conclusion my relationship as Board
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of al-Quds al-Arabi, the newspaper I proudly say
stood without fail by our nation and its beliefs, fought fierce battles against
occupation, foreign hegemonies and corrupt and repressive dictatorships, and
always rooted for the oppressed and the downtrodden…
Atwan says he has one project in mind for the
“initial directionless, difficult and long days ahead,” which is to write a new
book -- his fourth in English.
His first three were:
- The Secret History of al-Qaeda (2006)
- A Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page (2008)
- After Bin Laden: Al Qaeda, the Next Generation (2012)
Atwan
has also contributed chapters and essays to several academic and specialist
books and journals.
He
is a regular guest on Dateline London on BBC, BBC World, Sky News, Aljazeera
English and CNN World as well as on several Arab TV news networks.
Born
in 1950 in Deir el-Balah, a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Atwan studied
journalism at Cairo University. In 1978, he moved to London, where he has lived
and worked ever since.
Expatriate
Palestinians founded al-Quds al-Arabi
in 1989, when Atwan was named editor-in-chief, then board chairman as well.
The
newspaper is now printed in London, New York and Frankfurt, and then circulated
in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and North America. In addition to its
modest London headquarters, the paper has representative offices in Cairo,
Rabat and Amman.
Marc Lynch of Foreign Policy
called al-Quds al-Arabi "the most populist/'rejection camp' of the
major Arab papers."
Famed French-Lebanese
journalist Randa Habib
tweeted Atwan saying, “…You are and will remain always a legend.”
“You were my only trusted
window to politics,” another tweep wrote him.
Personally, I firmly
believe a newspaper or newsmagazine should have a “soul of its own.”
Atwan was the soul of al-Quds al-Arabi.
The soul of al-Hawadeeth was Salim
al-Lawzi al-Hayat’s was Kamel
Mroue, and an-Nahar’s was Ghassan
Tueni.
I hope the purported new
Qatari owners of al-Quds al-Arabi (at
least according to gerasanews.com)
have found a new “soul of its own” for the newspaper in Atwan’s supposed
successor -- self-exiled Syrian poet-cum-journalist Basheer al-Baker.
You can read English texts of Atwan’s editorials at http://www.bariatwan.com/english/
