With his cousin Yousef El-Issa, he founded and edited the biweekly newspaper Falastin in 1911, based in his hometown of Jaffa.

[2] The newspaper was the country's fiercest and most consistent critic of the Zionist movement, denouncing it as a threat to Palestine's Arab population.

[4] Exiled during World War I, al-Issa became chief of the Arab Kingdom of Syria's royal court in Damascus during King Faisal's government that lasted five months.

In June 1928, Al-Issa was elected to the 7th Congress of the Arab Executive Committee (AEC) as a representative of Jaffa.

During his time on the committee, he joined the National Defense Party, the opposition to Hajj Amin al-Husayni's sympathizers on the AEC.