20 Facts About Jamal al-Husayni

Jamal al-Husayni, was born in Jerusalem and was a member of the highly influential and respected Husayni family.

Jamal al-Husayni was co-founder and chairman of the Palestine Arab Party, established in Jerusalem in 1935, and in 1937 became a member of the first Arab Higher Committee, led by Amin al-Husayni, later becoming its chairman.

Jamal al-Husayni led the Arab delegation to the 1939 London Conference and was Palestinian representative to the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry.

Jamal al-Husayni was released at the end of World War II and returned to Palestine in 1946.

Jamal al-Husayni agreed to proposals for a round table conference with members of the Jewish Agency.

Jamal al-Husayni returned to Palestine, in January 1931, feeling progress had been made.

The notes indicate that Jamal al-Husayni argued that the committee had no influence over tribal leaders east of the Jordan and that the meeting should be ignored.

In December 1935 Jamal al-Husayni attended a memorial ceremony for Izz ad-Din al-Qassam in Haifa, and made a speech to the crowd of 6,000 in which he predicted that al-Qassam would become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

Jamal al-Husayni later replaced Hadi as secretary following Hadi's internment at Sarafand military base in June 1936.

On 1 October 1937 the authorities banned all Palestinian Arab nationalist organisations and Jamal al-Husayni went into exile.

Jamal al-Husayni had some contact with the pacifist president of Jerusalem's Hebrew University, Judah Magnes, and was possibly involved in proposals that Magnus presented to David Ben Gurion in 1935.

Zionist archives record an Arab source saying that Jamal al-Husayni was the only member of the committee who would not accept bribes.

In 1937, following the end of the general strike, Jamal al-Husayni attempted to open negotiations with American Zionists with the help of the Brith Shalom group.

Jamal al-Husayni's priority was to limit the number of Jews arriving in Palestine and to end land sales to Jewish organisations.

In 1940 he and Amin Jamal al-Husayni moved to Baghdad where he held two weeks of meetings with Colonel Stewart Newcombe.

Jamal al-Husayni was not allowed back into Palestine until February 1946 where he represented the Arab case to the Anglo-American Commission.

Jamal al-Husayni's presentation was poorly received, in particular when compared to that given by Henry Cattan.

Jamal al-Husayni merged the two main youth movements and took over the Land Bank set up by Ahmed Hilmi.

Two months later it was recognised by the newly created United Nations and Jamal al-Husayni travelled to Lake Success, New York, as the spokesman for Palestinian Arabs to the UN.

Jamal al-Husayni returned to Palestine where he was Foreign Minister for the short lived Palestinian Arab Government.