{{Short description|Palestinian politician and businessman (1902–1984)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox person | image = Fuad Saba.jpg | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Fuad Salih Saba | birth_date = 1902 | birth_place = Shefa-Amr, Ottoman Palestine | death_date = {{death date and age|27 August 1984|1902|df=y}} | death_place = Beirut, Lebanon | resting_place = Beirut | children = 3 | spouse = Muhiba Khattar Maluf | alma_mater = American University of Beirut | occupation = Accountant | years_active = 1920s–1980s | known_for = Founder of Saba & Co. | notable_works = }} '''Fuad Saba''' (Arabic: {{Lang|ar|فؤاد سابا}}; 1902–1984) was a Palestinian accountant, businessman and politician during Mandatory Palestine. Among the first Palestinians to receive an accounting certificate, he co-founded the international firm Saba & Co. in Jerusalem with his brother.
He was among the community leaders of Arab Anglicans in Palestine.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Seth J. Frantzman|author2=Benjamin W. Glueckstadt|author3=Ruth Kark|title=The Anglican Church in Palestine and Israel: Colonialism, Arabization and Land Ownership|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=47|issue=1|year=2011|jstor=27920343 |page=106}}</ref> A member of the Palestine Arab Party, Saba was a leading politician in Mandatory Palestine who attempted to end Jewish settlement in Palestine.
Born in Ottoman Palestine, Saba was not allowed to return to Palestine at several points in his lifetime. Beginning in October 1937, he and other members of the Arab Higher Committee were exiled for several years by the British government. Following forced displacement from Jerusalem due to the Nakba in 1948, he relocated the Saba & Co. headquarters to Beirut.
==Early life and education== thumb|Palestinian leaders during the exile in Seychelles (Fuad Saba, standing right) Saba was born in Shefa-Amr, Ottoman Palestine, on 14 December 1902.<ref name=palqu/> He was the son of Salih Saba, an Anglican pastor, and Louisa Meyer.<ref name=palqu>{{cite web|title=Fuad Saba|url=https://www.palquest.org/en/biography/9866/fuad-saba|publisher=Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question|access-date=19 December 2023|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219170001/https://www.palquest.org/en/biography/9866/fuad-saba|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=delo>{{cite web|title=From One Room to an Entire Region: The Saba & Co. Story|url=https://www.deloitte.com/ug/en/about/story/purpose-values/saba-co-story.html|publisher=Deloitte|access-date=19 December 2023|archive-date=19 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219163333/https://www.deloitte.com/ug/en/about/story/purpose-values/saba-co-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Saba attended the Orthodox School, the Maronite School, the Frères Secondary School in Haifa and St. George's School in Jerusalem.<ref name=pass/> He obtained a degree in commerce from the American University of Beirut in 1924.<ref name=palqu/> Then he continued his studies in accountancy in England.<ref name=delo/>
==Career and activities== thumb|Arab Higher Committee (Fuad Saba, standing right) Following his graduation, Saba taught at Catholic Terra Sancta College in Jerusalem for a while.<ref name=palqu/> He was qualified as a certified accountant, receiving a license from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in the United Kingdom.<ref name=bul>{{cite web|title=The Fuad Suhail Saba Collection of Books on Palestine|url=https://library.brown.edu/bookplates/honoree.php?id=1814|website=Brown University Library|access-date=20 December 2023|archive-date=20 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220144749/https://library.brown.edu/bookplates/honoree.php?id=1814|url-status=live}}</ref>
Then, he and his brother Aziz started an accounting company, Saba & Co., in 1926.<ref name="palqu" /><ref name="delo" /> Saba's company expanded over time, opening branches in Haifa and Jaffa.<ref name="pass" /> Its branches were opened later in Beirut, Lebanon; Amman, Jordan; Damascus, Syria; and Baghdad, Iraq.<ref name="delo" /> The company opened further branches in Kuwait in 1949, and in Saudi Arabia and Libya in 1957.<ref name="delo" />
He was involved in the establishment of the Arab Bank in 1930 and of the Palestinian National Fund.<ref name="pass" /> He worked as an auditor of the Arab Bank;<ref>{{cite journal |author=Pamela Ann Smith |title=The Palestinian Diaspora, 1948–1985 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=15 |issue=3 |date=Spring 1986 |doi=10.2307/2536751 |page=95 |jstor=2536751}}</ref> he was the first Palestinian licensed auditor to practice under the British Mandate.<ref>Khalidi, Walid. ''Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians, 1876-1948''. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1991, 280.</ref>
Saba was a member of the Palestine Arab Party which opposed the Zionist rule in the region.<ref name="pass" /> He founded the Arab Publication Company in Jerusalem in 1935.<ref name="palqu" /> The company produced two magazines on Arab economic affairs, ''Arab Economic Affairs'' (1935–1936) and ''Palestine and Transjordan'' (1936–37). The latter was published in English, and both titles were edited by Saba.<ref name="palqu" /> He also founded the Arab News Agency.<ref name="palqu" />
Saba was named as the secretary of the Arab Higher Committee in 1936.<ref name="pass" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Palestine In Suspense |issue=47475 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS201535273/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=abb0aeba |access-date=19 December 2023 |work=The Times |date=9 September 1936 |location=Jerusalem}}</ref> Alongside fellow committee members Hussein Khalidi, Yaqub al-Ghusayn, Ahmed Hilmi Pasha, and Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim, Saba was arrested by the British Mandate rulers on 1 October 1937, immediately after the assassination of British official Lewis Andrews.<ref>{{cite news|author=Laila Parsons|title=Exiled from Jerusalem: The diaries of Hussein Fakhri al-Khalidi|issue=6150|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A652093488/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=5bd283cf|access-date=19 December 2023|work=Times Literary Supplement|date=12 February 2021}}</ref> The men were not responsible for any act related to the murder, but the British government in Palestine declared that they were "morally responsible" for the incident.<ref>{{cite news|title=Arab Leaders Proscribed|access-date=19 December 2023|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS201535810/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=2538015f |work=The Times|issue=47805|date=2 October 1937|location=Jerusalem}}</ref> They were deported to the Seychelles in HMS ''Destroyer Active'' on 1 October and arrived the island 11 October 1937.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Chronology|journal=Bulletin of International News|year=1937|volume=14|issue=8|pages=11–40 |jstor=25639719}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Deported Arab leaders in the Seychelles|access-date=19 December 2023|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS221327692/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=b2963a61|work=The Times|issue=47813|date=12 October 1937|location=Mahe}}</ref> Their exile ended on 28 December 1938, and they were sent to Cairo.<ref>{{cite news|title=Arab Leaders' Return From Exile|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS118961053/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=b1fee8da|access-date=19 December 2023|work=The Times|issue=48189|date=29 December 1938|location=Aden}}</ref> Until February 1940, there was an exclusion order against him, with the British government not allowing him to return to Palestine.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 February 1940 |title=Telegrams in brief |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS120796745/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=58949afd |access-date=20 December 2023 |work=The Times |issue=48535}}</ref>
Saba became a member of the Palestinian delegation to the Roundtable Conference at St James's Palace in London in February 1939.<ref name="pass" /> During the conference, the Palestinian delegation opposed the British White Paper proposals.<ref name="pass" /> Saba had to leave Jerusalem after the conference; he moved to Beirut where he resided until 1942, when his return to Palestine was allowed by the British.<ref name="pass" />{{Contradictory inline|date=June 2025|reason=Unclear whether exclusion ending in 1940 and 1942 are actually same event}} He continued to work in his accounting firm and was one of the founders of the Arabia Insurance Company and Al Mashriq Investment Company.<ref name="palqu" /> He also became a fellow of the Institute of Arbitrators in Palestine during this period.<ref>{{cite journal|issue=1|author=Sherene Seikaly|title=How I Met My Great-Grandfather|journal=Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East|volume=38|year=2018|doi=10.1215/1089201x-4389931 |page=12|s2cid=150218618}}</ref> He published a book entitled ''Income Tax and Its Problems in Palestine'' in 1947.<ref name="palqu" />
Saba was forced to leave Jerusalem after the Nakba in 1948.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sherene Seikaly|title=Men of Capital in Mandate Palestine|journal=Rethinking Marxism|volume=30|issue=3|year=2018|doi=10.1080/08935696.2018.1525968|pages=393–417|s2cid=149529928 }}</ref> He settled in Beirut, where the headquarters of Saba & Co. was reopened.<ref name="pass">{{cite web|title=Saba, Fuad (1902-1984)|access-date=19 December 2023|publisher=Passia|url=http://passia.org/personalities/663|archive-date=2 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102200708/http://passia.org/personalities/663|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bul" /> The company became the most comprehensive accounting firm in the Middle East and merged with Deloitte & Touche in 1990.<ref name="delo" /><ref name="bul" />
==Personal life and death== Saba was married to Muhiba Khattar Maluf, and they had three children: two sons, Suhail and Fawzi, and one daughter, Nadia.<ref name=palqu/> His wife, Muhiba, was of Lebanese origin.<ref name=bul/> Fawzi Saba died in Barbados on 18 September 2000.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deaths|access-date=20 December 2023|work=The Times|date=26 September 2000|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0501411944/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=4e936971}}</ref> His another son, Suhail, died on 8 February 2023.<ref>{{cite web|title=Announcement of the Passing of Suhail F. Saba, Partner, Friend, and Colleague|website=sabaip.com|date=8 February 2023|url=https://www.sabaip.com/announcement-of-the-passing-of-suhail-f-saba-partner-friend-and-colleague/|access-date=20 December 2023|archive-date=20 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220151342/https://www.sabaip.com/announcement-of-the-passing-of-suhail-f-saba-partner-friend-and-colleague/|url-status=live}}</ref>
Fuad Saba died in Beirut on 27 August 1984, and was buried there.<ref name=palqu/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons-inline}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saba, Fuad}} Category:1902 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Palestinian Anglicans Category:Arab people from Ottoman Palestine Category:People from Ottoman Palestine Category:Arab people from Mandatory Palestine Category:People from Mandatory Palestine Category:American University of Beirut alumni Category:Palestinian company founders Category:Palestinian accountants Category:Financial company founders Category:Palestinian business executives Category:20th-century Palestinian politicians Category:Palestine Arab Party politicians Category:Palestinian emigrants to Lebanon Category:Exiled politicians Category:20th-century Palestinian writers Category:Palestinian magazine editors