Abu-Hanna was born in 1928 in Reineh, a town 3 km north of Nazareth. Because of his father's work, he moved between Jerusalem, Ramallah, Jaffa, Ashdod, Najd, Haifa, Nazareth, and then back to Reineh. He first attended school in Ashdod, after which he attended the Al Maaref School for Boys in Haifa. He then moved to Nazareth, where he participated in the 1936 Arab revolt. He later attended the Latin School in Reineh for a while, before completing secondary studies at the Ma'arif School in Nazareth. After high school, Abu-Hanna studied at the Arab College in Jerusalem, which enrolled outstanding students from Palestinian government schools. He was chosen to pursue studies in Britain. A government mission was assigned to him in 1947, but family circumstances and the Nakba eliminated this opportunity. He holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Haifa.