Izzat Tannous

Following his graduation Tannous worked as a physician in Jerusalem.^[3] He joined the Arab Party during the 1930s and served as head of the Arab Information Office in London in 1936.^[2][6] He published a report of the Palestine commission in 1939.^[7] He was instrumental in the establishment of the office for the Arab League in London in 1945.^[3] He became a representative of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee at the United Nations General Assembly. He was a member of the Arab Higher Committee from 1946 and headed its treasury department, the Palestine National Fund.^[2][4]

Tannous was part of the Palestinians who attempted to block partition of Palestine through negotiations with the British.^[3] He founded the Arab Palestine Office in Beirut in 1949 and was the head of the delegation of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations in the 1950s.^[2] In this capacity he met the Israeli journalist Uri Avnery.^[8] Tannous acted as the secretary general of the Representatives of the Palestine Refugee Committees in Lebanon.^[9] He founded the Palestine Arab Refugee Office in New York in 1954^[3] and headed the Office.^[4]

Tannous was one of the founders of the PLO in 1964 and headed its New York office until 1968.^[3]

Tannous published a book entitled The Palestinians: A Detailed Documented Eyewitness History of Palestine Under British Mandate in 1988.^[6][10]

Tannous was part of the Nakba generation who held a moderate approach and denied the use of violent ways to overcome of the problems of the Palestinians due to their forced leave of Palestine.^[4] He was an opponent of the orientalism.^[4]

Tannous was married to Lily Daun with whom he had three children: Raja, Farid and Layla.^[2]

Tannous died in Arlington, VA, on 6 August 1993 and was buried at the Protestant Evangelical Cemetery in Beirut, Lebanon.^[2]