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Tawfik Canaan was a physician, an author, an advocate for the Palestinian cause, and a prominent individual who is little known outside specialized circles. He graduated from medical school in 1905 and immediately began a career in which he occupied medical and administrative positions in several Jerusalem-area hospitals and clinics until his retirement at age 75. Canaan was a prolific writer. In 1914, at age 32, he published in German his first book, entitled Superstition and Popular Medicine in the Land of the Bible.1 He also authored more than 37 medical studies in his field of specialization, tropical medicine; and in bacteriology, particularly malaria; and in other topics, such as leprosy, tuberculosis, and health in Palestine. In 1932, his name and a synopsis of his life were included in a book published in Germany under the title, "Famous Doctors in Tropical Medicine" by Dr. G. Olpp, who was the director of the well-known medical center for tropical medicine in the city of Tübingen.
[Image omitted, see PDF]Canaan had interests outside the field of medicine. He was keenly interested in Palestinian folklore, popular beliefs, and superstitions. He collected a prodigious number of amulets and produced more than 50 articles in English and German on folklore and superstition. Beyond that, Canaan wrote two books on the Palestine problem. They reflected his involvement in confronting British imperialism and Zionism, and thus prompted the British Authorities to arrest him in 1939.
Previous Biographies
Tawfik Canaan lived the Palestinian tragedy since its beginning, and he played an active role in confronting British and Zionist imperialism. As a distinguished physician in Jerusalem before 1948, and later as the director of the Augusta Victoria Hospital, he enjoyed an eminent status in Palestinian society, particularly in Jerusalem. Given his stature, it is surprising that Canaan's biographies were brief and in many cases superficial. Before 1998, two biographical articles on Canaan were available. The first was written by the well-known biographer Ya'qub Al-'Awdat in 1971, and the second was written by Yesma, Canaan's daughter, in 1981, and was published in the journal Society and Heritage (al-Bireh). A comparison between the two articles reveals conformity in much of the information. Neither biographer seems to have benefited from the obituary placed by Bishop Daud Haddad...