Anastas Hanania

Anastas Hanania (1899 [?] -1995) was a Palestinian-Jordanian lawyer, judge, official and diplomat.

Born in Jerusalem at around the turn of the century, Hanania was educated at the Syrian Protestant College (now known as AUB) and the Law College in Jerusalem. He entered Palestinian politics in the late 1930s and 1940s.

After the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, Hanania and his family left Palestine for Amman. During the 1950's, Hanania held several cabinet positions in the Jordanian government including Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice and Foreign Minister. He was one of the signatories to the Jordanian Constitution of 1952, which remains the law of the land today.

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

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