Fuad Saba

Fuad Saba (Arabic: ; 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. 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

Saba was born in Shefa-Amr, Ottoman Palestine, on 14 December 1902.

Saba attended the Orthodox School, the Maronite School, the Frères Secondary School in Haifa and St. George's School in Jerusalem.

Then, he and his brother Aziz started an accounting company, Saba & Co., in 1926. he was the first Palestinian licensed auditor to practice under the British Mandate.

Saba was a member of the Palestine Arab Party which opposed the Zionist rule in the region. 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. 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. They were deported to the Seychelles in HMS Destroyer Active on 1 October and arrived the island 11 October 1937. Their exile ended on 28 December 1938, and they were sent to Cairo. Until February 1940, there was an exclusion order against him, with the British government not allowing him to return to Palestine.

Saba became a member of the Palestinian delegation to the Roundtable Conference at St James's Palace in London in February 1939. He published a book entitled Income Tax and Its Problems in Palestine in 1947. He settled in Beirut, where the headquarters of Saba & Co. was reopened. His another son, Suhail, died on 8 February 2023.

Fuad Saba died in Beirut on 27 August 1984, and was buried there.