Suriyya al-Janubiyya (newspaper)

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Suriyya al-Janubiyya, meaning “Southern Syria,” was an Arabic newspaper published in Jerusalem starting in 1918. It was founded by lawyer Muhammad Hasan al-Budayri and edited by Aref al-Aref, with contributions from people like Amin al-Husseini. The paper supported Pan-Syrian ideas, Pan-Arabism, and Palestinian nationalism.

During that era, “Southern Syria” referred to a plan for a united Greater Syria. This would bring together modern Syria, Mount Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan, and it would be closely linked to the Hashemite rulers promised a kingdom by the British after World War I. Prince Faisal tried to create such a pan-Syrian state, uniting with the Hashemites in Hejaz and Iraq. This vision depended on British promises, which were made in various conflicting agreements (Sykes-Picot, Balfour Declaration, and McMahon–Hussein correspondence). The attempt to form a larger Arab kingdom led to the Franco-Syrian War and the downfall of the Arab Kingdom of Syria in 1920.

Suriyya al-Janubiyya supported this Pan-Syria idea along with Pan-Arabism and Palestinian nationalism, seeing them as connected. After Faisal’s kingdom fell, the newspaper shifted toward Palestinian nationalism and opposition to British rule and Zionist immigration. It was suppressed by the British authorities in April 1920 during the Nebi Musa riots, but it later resumed publication and continued until 1922.