Farewell to Dr. Haitham El-Zobaidi
Born in March 1964 in Anbar, Iraq, Dr. El Zobaidi held a PhD in Nuclear Physics from Imperial College London and a postgraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Baghdad.
Al Arab Publishing House includes the leading Arabic-language daily newspaper Al Arab, the English-language online publication The Arab Weekly, the cultural magazine Al-Jadeed, and Middle East Online, the first English-language news website, which was launched in 2000.
Dr. El Zobaidi was a prolific writer on current Middle East affairs and cultural issues. He was gifted with an exceptionally encyclopedic mind on topics of interest ranging from politics, media, society, and technology. He was also the author of several scientific research papers.
His arrival at the helm of the group marked a new era with broader content and accurate and interesting analysis of the major issues facing the Arab world today. This was a re-founding in 2012, following the era of the late Hajj Ahmed Al-Saleheen Al-Huni, who founded the newspaper in 1977 amid a difficult and complex Arab environment and left a significant mark on the establishment of the Arabic-language diaspora press.
El-Zobaidi, in collaboration with Professor Mohammed Al-Huni, editor-in-chief and managing director, succeeded in establishing unconventional editorial mechanisms from the outset that provide readers with useful and valuable information despite intense competition from satellite channels and modern media.
He also gave the organization an increasingly broad dimension by focusing on the creation of websites and newspapers in several languages, from English to Spanish and Turkish, to convey the “Arab” approach, which is based on rationality, tolerance, and the rejection of extremism and terrorism, to non-Arab readers.
The aim is to help change the negative image that has been imprinted in the minds of many about Arab peoples, their ideas, and their values, in light of the growing wave of extremism in the East and West in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
In the period since Dr. El-Zobaidi took office, Al-Arab newspaper has become a source of Arab news for foreign media outlets seeking Arab media outlets that think and write in a way that provides answers and understands how Western readers think and how to address and persuade them.
Under the leadership of Dr. Haitham, Al-Arab entered a new phase, more inclusive and in line with the developments of the time, especially during the Arab Spring, when crises and tensions multiplied and demanded bold analysis and opinions, as well as expertise in understanding political Islam and defending the values of tolerance and dialogue between religions as an objective equivalent capable of defeating extremists and exposing their danger.
The organization continued to play a supportive role for all workers even in the most difficult circumstances it faced during and after the coronavirus pandemic, which caused it to lose some of its resources and capabilities. Despite the austerity measures, Al Arab continued to support its employees and help them overcome life's difficulties.
This is the secret of its success and its continued strength and cohesion, which Dr. El-Zobaidi consistently expressed during his meetings with employees, saying, “We are brothers, a family, and a family stays together and unites in difficult times, not only in times of prosperity.”
