Anastas Hanania

Anastas Hanania (1903 – 1995) was a Palestinian-Jordanian lawyer, judge, official and diplomat.

Hanania was educated at the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut (now the AUB) and the Law College in Jerusalem. He entered the world of Palestinian politics in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Career

After the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, Hanania and his family left Palestine for Amman. During the 1950s, Hanania was one of the original signatories to the Constitution of Jordan of 1952, which remains the law of the land today.

Between 1960 and 1966, Hanania was Jordan's Ambassador to the United Kingdom and between 1968 and 1989, he was a Senator in Jordan's Upper House of Parliament.

Ministerial positions Hanania held several cabinet positions in the Jordanian government including Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice and Foreign Minister

+ × Term Start Term End Ministry Government 1 6 May 1959 20 September 1959 Minister of Justice and Transport Hazza' al-Majali 2 18 May 1958 10 July 1958 Minister of Finance and Economy Samir al-Rifai 3 12 December 1957 18 May 1958 Minister of Finance Ibrahim Hashem 4 13 July 1957 12 December 1957 Minister of Finance Ibrahim Hashem 5 24 April 1957 13 July 1957 Minister of Finance and Economy Ibrahim Hashem 6 1 April 1956 20 May 1956 Minister of Transport, Construction and Building Samir al-Rifai 7 8 January 1956 1 April 1956 Minister of Trade, Construction and Building Samir al-Rifai 8 21 December 1955 7 January 1956 Minister of Trade, Construction and Building Ibrahim Hashem 9 24 October 1954 28 May 1955 Minister of Finance Tawfik Abu al-Huda 10 4 May 1954 21 October 1954 Minister of Trade Tawfik Abu al-Huda 11 5 May 1953 2 May 1954 Minister of Trade Fawzi al-Mulki 12 8 September 1951 27 September 1952 Minister of Justice, Construction and Building Tawfik Abu al-Huda 13 25 July 1951 7 September 1951 Minister of Agriculture, Construction and Building Tawfik Abu al-Huda 14 14 July 1951 25 July 1951 Minister of Trade, Construction and Building Samir al-Rifai 15 18 April 1951 14 July 1951 Minister of Foreign Affairs Samir al-Rifai 16 24 March 1951 18 April 1951 Minister of Agriculture, Construction and Building Samir al-Rifai 17 4 December 1950 24 March 1951 Minister of Construction and Building Samir al-Rifai 18 14 October 1950 4 Dec 1950 Minister of Construction and Building Sa`id al-Mufti 19 5 August 1950 11 October 1950 Minister of Refugees, Construction and Building Sa`id al-Mufti 20 12 April 1950 5 August 1950 Minister of Telegram and Post Sa`id al-Mufti

Personal life

Hanania's wife Claire Nashawati died in 2002. They had a son (heart surgeon Daoud Hanania) and four daughters (May, Lyne, Louly and Myr).