Mahmoud Abu Zuluf

Biography

Mahmoud Abu Zuluf (also transliterated Abu-Zalaf) was one of the towering figures of the modern Palestinian press, the founder and longtime editor-in-chief of al-Quds, the most widely circulated and enduring Arabic-language daily in Palestine. A Jerusalem newspaperman by vocation, he came to prominence as the owner of al-Jihad, a daily he ran from 1951 onward during the Jordanian administration of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. His career bridged the late Mandate period, Jordanian rule, the 1967 occupation, the Intifadas, and the Oslo era, making him a living thread of continuity through the most turbulent decades of Palestinian political history. In 1967, a Jordanian press-consolidation law required the merger of the existing Jerusalem dailies al-Difaʿ and al-Jihad. Out of that merger Abu Zuluf forged al-Quds, whose first issue appeared on 21 March 1967 in Jerusalem. Within months Israel occupied East Jerusalem and halted the paper's production, but Abu Zuluf persevered, securing its re-registration in 1968 despite tight Israeli restrictions on the Palestinian press. From that point al-Quds appeared without interruption, becoming the paper of record for Palestinians in the occupied territories and a daily presence in homes, cafes, and political offices across the West Bank, Gaza, and the diaspora. Abu Zuluf edited al-Quds under conditions that defined the dangerous craft of Palestinian journalism under occupation: every page passed through the Israeli military censor before printing. He navigated arbitrary bans, confiscations, and pressure from all sides. In 1988, after the paper reported a failed cross-border infiltration attempt already published in the Hebrew press, the military censor barred al-Quds from the West Bank and Gaza for forty-five days. Pressure also came from Palestinian authorities: in August 1995, Yasser Arafat's security men ordered the presses stopped because the paper had given prominence to Faruq Qaddumi's criticisms of the Oslo Declaration of Principles. Through it all, Abu Zuluf steered a careful, survivalist editorial line that kept the paper publishing. His instinct for giving Palestinian voices a platform left a lasting cultural mark. He famously offered the cartoonist Naji al-Ali a home for his work, helping carry the iconic figure of Handala — the barefoot refugee child — to a mass Palestinian readership, and the paper preserved those drawings in an archive accessible to Palestinians everywhere. As publisher he built al-Quds into an institution rather than a personal venture, an outlet often described as the unofficial spokesperson of ordinary Palestinians. Abu Zuluf remained owner and editor-in-chief until his death in Jerusalem on 28 March 2005. He left behind his wife, Eileen, and their four children — Walid, Marwan, Ziad, and Caroline — several of whom continued in the family's publishing tradition, with the paper passing into the hands of the next generation while remaining Palestine's leading daily.

Why This Person Matters

He founded and steered al-Quds, Palestine's most enduring and widely read daily, keeping an independent Palestinian voice in print through occupation, censorship, and political pressure.

Historical Context

Abu Zuluf's career unfolded across the central ruptures of modern Palestinian history. He launched al-Jihad in 1951, when East Jerusalem and the West Bank were under Jordanian rule following the Nakba of 1948, and he built al-Quds in the immediate aftermath of the June 1967 war, just as Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the remaining Palestinian territories. For nearly four decades he practiced journalism under Israeli military rule, where the censor's stamp, periodic closures, and the absence of Palestinian statehood shaped every editorial decision — a vivid case study in how Palestinians sustained civic and cultural institutions under occupation.

Legacy & Influence

Al-Quds outlived its founder and remains the leading Palestinian daily, the paper of record for the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem — an institutional legacy passed to Abu Zuluf's family. By giving figures like Naji al-Ali a mass platform and by stubbornly keeping the presses running through every closure, he helped define what survival and continuity look like for a national press denied a sovereign state. Generations of Palestinian journalists learned the craft, and its perilous compromises, in the world he built around al-Quds.

References & Sources

1. Mahmoud Abu Zuluf, an Icon of the Palestinian Press — https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/bio/mahmoud-abu-zuluf
2. Al-Quds (newspaper) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Quds_(newspaper)
3. Bio Sketch: Faruq Qaddumi, the PLO's #2 — https://www.meforum.org/middle-east-quarterly/bio-sketch-faruq-qaddumi-the-plos-2