Arif Al-Arif was born in Jerusalem in 1891 and died in Ramallah in 1973. He edited the first Palestinian national newspaper published after World War I.
His mission was to introduce the Arab reader to Palestine. In his book "The History of Gaza," he chronicles the development of the city in a bygone century. The city was first inhabited by the Canaanites, who are “Semitic” peoples, he says. In ancient history, he talks about Gaza’s relationship with the Jews, so it remained far from their influence.