The Jerusalem News was the first English-language newspaper in Jerusalem, existing for around six months during the British Mandate for Palestine. The paper was established in 1919 by Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen under the auspices of the Christian Science movement and edited by William Denison McCrackan, the associated editor of both the Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel.
History
Following the conquest of Palestine by the British Army in 1917, Christian Science interested itself in the affairs of Palestine, first organizing relief work and then with starting a new newspaper.
Establishment
The Jerusalem News was established in 1919 under the auspices of the Christian Science movement. The paper was established in 1919 by Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen, a British-American woman who would later become a women's aeronautics pioneer, and who had in the aftermath of WWI served in war relief work in Palestine under Field Marshal Allenby.[1] The first issue, on Dec. 9, 1919, bore a congratulatory message from Allenby, then High Commissioner for Egypt.[2]
Editor and writer
William Denison McCrackan, the associated editor of both the Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel, was critical of the Zionist slogan "a land without a people for a people without a land". He said, "We used to read in our papers the slogan of Zionism, 'to give back a people to a Land without a People,' while the truth was that Palestine was already well-peopled with a population which was rapidly increasing from natural causes."[3]
Sources
References
- Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen Papers Claremont Colleges, retrieved 2013-02-08^
- Summary of first issue provided in reference to a copy being auctioned in 2014 by House of Zion^
- Muir, Diana. "A Land without a People for a People without a Land" Middle East Forum, republished from the Middle East Quarterly (Spring 2008). Retrieved June 15, 2013^