HUSAYNI, JAMAL AL- (1892–1982)

Palestinian politician. Jamal al-Husayni was born in Jerusalem into a prominent Palestinian family and educated at the Anglican St. George's School and the American University of Beirut. From 1920 to 1934 he was secretary general of the Arab Executive, a committee of notables, chaired by his cousin Musa Kazim al-Husayni, which was the most visible political organization advocating for the Palestinian cause, mostly through petitions and delegations; in its later years it was generally regarded as conservative and inadequate in the face of rising Palestinian anger and increasing political crisis. In 1930 he was a member of a delegation sent by his cousin Hajj Amin al-Husayni, the mufti of Jerusalem, to London to plead the Palestinian position on Zionism and British rule. In 1935 al-Husayni became the president of the Palestine Arab Party, controlled by the Husayni family, and the editor of the party's newspaper, al-Liwa. In 1936 he joined the Arab Higher Committee (AHC), chaired by Hajj Amin, which came into existence to coordinate the activities of the general strike organized to protest Zionist activities and British support for them and which attempted to get control of what became an armed uprising against the British and the Zionists. When the British banned the AHC in 1937 al-Husayni joined Hajj Amin in exile in Lebanon, where they attempted to continue coordinating the uprising until it was crushed in 1939.

In 1939 Jamal al-Husayni was allowed to travel to London as the head of the Palestinian delegation to the London Conference. After the start of World War II he went to Iraq, and in 1941 to Iran, where he was arrested by the British in 1942 and deported to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). From there he attempted to revive the AHC but found no support from other political factions. In 1946 he returned to Palestine and worked with the newly constituted Arab Higher Committee created by the Arab League in 1946; he became foreign minister in the All-Palestine Government that lasted through September and October 1948 in the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip. He later went to Saudi Arabia, where he was an advisor to King Saʿud from 1953 to 1964. He died in Beirut.

SEE ALSO All-Palestine Government;Arab Higher Committee;Gaza Strip;Husayni, Hajj Amin al-.