Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Iskandar Gerges Ya`qub al-Khoury al-Bitjali (1888 - 7 July 1973) was a Palestinian judge, lawyer, Orthodox priest, writer and poet. He was born in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, to the father of a clergyman who taught Arabic and religious sciences at the Russian School of Teachers in the town. He graduated from the Russian School in Nazareth, and among his classmates were Mikhail Naima and his brother-in-law Arida. Then he studied at the Patriarchal School in Beirut, and graduated with a law degree. Appointed magistrate and investigative judge in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. He assumed the presidency of the An-Najah Association in Beit Jala, 1921. He wrote a lot and published his results in newspapers and magazines. He mastered six languages: Arabic, Turkish, English, French, Greek, and Russian. He translated novels and worked as a journalist. He died in his hometown.
his biography
Iskandar ibn Gerges Yaqoub al-Bitjali al-Khoury was born in 1888 in the town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem, or it is said in 1890 in Ein Karem, to a father who taught Arabic and religious sciences at the Russian Teachers’ School in the town. He was educated at the Roman school there, then at the Russian boarding school in Nazareth, then at the Salzban boarding school in Bethlehem, where he learned French. He entered the Patriarchal College in Beirut, where he took Arabic on Abdullah Al-Bustani, and also studied law at the Palestinian Law Institute in Jerusalem.
He worked in the Egyptian Telegraph Registry, then director of the Karak Orthodox School, then a teacher in Jerusalem in several schools, and during the British Mandate over Palestine he worked as a clerk in the Court of the Legal Counsel in Jerusalem, then head of the clerk of the Court of Appeal, then a justice of the peace.
He retired from his jobs in 1945 and worked as a lawyer, and devoted himself to writing and poetry. After the 1948 Nakba, he worked as a legal advisor for the International Red Cross in Bethlehem and Hebron, then as an inspector for schools for refugee children, as well as working in the press, and collecting aid for patients in Jerusalem.
Iskandar El Khoury died on July 7, 1973 in his hometown. In 1992, the Iskandar El-Khoury Cultural Center was established in Beit Jala, with the aim of developing a cultural movement there. The center was based in Beit Iskandar El-Khoury.
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He mentioned in Al-Babtain Dictionary of his poetry:
“One of the pioneers of Palestinian poetry on social issues, and the interest in narration in the formation of the poem, despite this, his poetry was dominated by direct expression, including objectivity, so much of his poetry was more like a newspaper article. Pay attention to the world of the child and the upbringing of youngsters with songs. His poetry was not free from grammatical and presentational errors.
His writings
Among his poetry collections:
Sighs, 1919
Heartbeat, 1923
Scenes of Life, selected from my collections of sighs and heartbeats, 1927
The Known and the Unknown, 1935
The Systematic Parable, Poems on the Missing of Birds and Animals, for Schools, 1946
The Cluster, 1946
From his prose:
The Pains and Hopes of the Catastrophe, 1961
Life after death, a historical social romance novel, 1947
At its core, a novel
Disease and Medicine, 1924
World War II, poetry and prose
My Memoirs, Growing Up, Judge, Lawyer, Literary and Journalistic Worker, 1972
A tour of Latin America, travel literature
Facts and through, some articles in literature, language and sociology
From his translations:
Beautiful Guerilla, from French
The Girl for the Knight, about Russian
An old man's diary, about Russian
World War II
The Goddess of Beauty, a translated novel
Literature and Music in the Arab Majlis, 1972
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Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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