The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty

by Ilan Pappe

  23. On Baydas’s arrest, see Awdat, Thinkers. The manuscript of Hadith al-Sajun was not found until recently.

  24. Al-Kayali, The Documents, pp. 147–8.

  25. On the second conference, see al-Hut, The Political, p. 118; Porath, The Emergence, pp. 71–2.

  26. On Kamil’s attitude towards the British, see Porath, Al-Hajj, p. 227, note 15. On Kamil’s encounters with Jewish leaders in February 1920, see Mattar, The Mufti, p. 16.

  27. N. Rogel, ‘Weizmann’s Man in Damascus: The Case of Dr Moshe Palman’s Mission to Faysal’s Court, September 1919–July 1920’, Ziyonut 9 (1983), p. 302 (Hebrew).

  28. In Walid al-Khalidi’s album, there is a photo of Allenby’s arrival in Jaffa (picture 79) with details of how he was brought to Jerusalem. OTEA stands for ‘Occupied Territory of Enemy Area’.

  29. On the clash with Frumkin, see G. Frumkin, The Way of a Judge in Jerusalem, Jerusalem 1946, pp. 288–9 (Hebrew).

  30. Ibid.

  31. On Samuel’s visit to al-Salt, see Mattar, The Mufti, pp. 20–1; J. B. Schechtman, The Mufti and the Fuerher: The Rise of Haj Amin al-Husseini, New York 1965, p. 1920.

  32. Musa Kazim’s speech to activists in July was added here following a conversation with family members. The citation is taken from the Central Zionist Archives, Z4, file 2800/2, report 138, 5 August 1920.

  33. The reports of the American consul appear in G. Biger, ‘The American Consulate in Jerusalem and the Events of 1920–1921’, Cathedra 49 (September 1988), pp. 133–9 (Hebrew).

  34. On the third conference, see al-Hut, The Political, p. 139. She bases her account on Akram Zuayter’s private collection. See also Porath, The Emergence, pp. 86–8.

  35. Mardini, Palestine, p.51.

  36. Porath, Emergence, p. 140.

  CHAPTER 8

  1. Porath, The Emergence, p. 86.

  2. Based on Mattar’s interview with Ishaq Musa al-Husayni; see Mattar, The Mufti, p. 21, note 13. See also Karak and Oren-Nordheim, Jerusalem, p. 64.

  3. S. Attiyeh, The Arab Palestine Party and the National Defense Party, 1934–1937, Jerusalem 1985, p. 74 (Arabic).

  4. The archive of the Palestine government secretariat, file 245, a CID report on the secretary’s assistant for political affairs, 23 March 1921.

  5. Al-Peleg, The Mufti, p. 14.

  6. S. Hamada, The Consciousness and the Revolution: A Study in the Life of the Shahid Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Jerusalem 1985, p. 133 (Arabic).

  7. Al-Ghori, Palestine, vol. 1, p. 57.

  8. Mirat al-Sharq, 27 November 1923; Tahir III’s conversation with Yizhak Ben-Zvi, 2 April 1930, in the Central Zionist Archives, S/25, file 3006.

  9. PRO, CO 733/3, CO 24596, report from 9 May 1920.

  10. Ibid.

  11. P. H. Kisch, A Palestine Diary, Jerusalem 1939, vol. 1, pp. 40–2.

  12. Al-Hut, The Political, p. 118.

  13. Izzat Darwaza, personal Diary quoted in Mattar, The Mufti, p. 27, note 27.

  14. J. Laval, Al-Hajj Amin and Berlin, Tel Aviv 1996, p. 15 (Hebrew).

  15. Al-Kayali, The Documents, p. 94.

  16. Kedourie, Chatham House, pp. 64–5. I wish to thank Daniel Monk for the documents and references.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Porath, The Emergence, pp. 153–4.

  19. The Peel Report, p. 117.

  20. The Israeli State Archives, Files of the Mandatory Government’s Secretariat, file 245, Quingley to the secretary’s assistant, 12 May 1921.

  21. Bait al-Muqadas, 18 April 1921.

  22. The Israeli State Archives, The Executive Committee Files, file 2700, Jamal al-Husayni to the High Commissioner, 27 August 1923.

  23. Central Zionist Archives, S25, file 517, interview with Tahir III, 30 April 1925.

  24. Interview with Amin al-Husayni.

  25. 18 June 1921.

  26. Porath, The Emergence, p. 51.

  27. Centre for Arab Research, The Orient House Archive, document 177.

  28. The Anglo-American Committee, pp. 900–1. See also S. Bar Elkana, ‘The Rise of Hajj Amin to the Muslim Leadership in Palestine’, in Bar Ilan University’s Year Book, Ramat Gan 1972, pp. 37–83 (Hebrew).

  29. Porath, The Emergence, pp. 159–61; Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinians, p. 85.

  30. Al-Peleg, The Mufti, p. 19.

  31. Porath, The Emergence, p. 164; Issa Khalil Muhsin’s interview with Mahmoud Sad al-Din al-Husayni in 1983, Muhsin, The Mother, p. 139.

  32. For a report on the Supreme Muslim Council, see PRO, CO 733/45, CO 26756, report 1922–23.

  33. Porath, The Emergence, pp. 117–20; Muhsin, The Mother, p. 136.

  34. Kedourie, The Chatham, pp. 75–7. See the Central Zionist Archives, Files of the Executive Committee, file 2480, Jamal al-Husayni to Musa Kazim al-Husayni, 5 August 1923.

  35. P. Offer, ‘The Crystallization of the Mandatory Regime and the Laying of Foundations to the Jewish National Home, 1921–1931’, in M. Lissak (ed.), The History, p. 230.

  36. Mirat al-Sharq, 27 June 1923; Al-Karmil, 5 July 1922.

  37. N. Caplan, Futile Diplomacy, vol. 1, London 1983, p. 73.

  38. Porath, The Emergence, pp. 189–92.

  39. The Centre for Palestinian Research, file 220.

  40. Darwaza, Memories, vol. 1, p. 46.

  41. PRO, CO 733/68, Herbert Samuel to SoS for the Colonies, 23 May 1924.

  42. PRO, CO 733/52, Political Report for November 1923, High Commissioner to SoS for the Colonies, 14 December 1923.

  43. Al-Karmil, 19 July 1924.

  44. F. Tuqan, An Arduous Trip, Acre 1985, pp. 28–9 (Arabic).

  45. Al-Karmil, 6 February 1927; Mirat al-Sharq, 6 February 1927. See also Rubinstein, ‘The Arab Question in the Aftermath of the 1929 Events and the Establishment of the Unified Board of the Jewish Community Institutions: Political Aspects’, in I. Pappé (ed.), Arabs and Jews in the Mandatory Era: A New Look at the Historical Research, Givat Haviva 1992, p. 130 (Hebrew).

  46. Quoted in Haaretz, 6 February 1927.

  47. S. Dotan, The Communist Party in Israel, Kfar Saba 1991, p. 10 (Hebrew).

  48. The Executive Committee’s Protocol, J1/7229, July–August 1927.

  49. P. Khoury, Syria under the French Mandate, Princeton 1987, p. 553.

  50. The Egyptian paper al-Hilal provided an extended description of the visit.

  51. Rubinstein, The Arab, pp. 65–102.

  52. Photos from the inquiry commission, the Shaw Commission, Tel Aviv 1929.

  53. PRO, CO 733/98, SoS to Clayton, 2 May 1918.

  54. Pappé, Understanding, pp. 87–108.

  55. Al-Hut, The Political, pp. 218–21.

  56. Davar, 2 October 1925. See PRO, CO 733/163, Shucburgh to Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1 January 1929.

  57. Most of the committee’s publications appeared in Amin’s paper Al-Jamaa’ al-Arabiyya; see Porath, The Emegence, p. 214.

  58. PRO, CO 733/160, Lock to Amery, 13 October 1928; Davar, 25–8 September 1928.

  59. Mattar, The Mufti, pp. 35–7.

  60. Doar Ha-Yom, 28 September 1928.

  61. The Shaw Commission Report.

  62. On Bentwich, see Pappé, Understanding.

  63. . Mattar, The Mufti, p. 37.

  64. Al-Peleg, The Mufti, pp. 25–6.

  65. Shaw Commission Report, general impression.

  66. I. M. al-Husayni, Facts, Beirut 1956, p. 10 (Arabic).

  67. Mattar, The Mufti, pp. 41–2.

  68. B. Katinka, From Then to Now, Jerusalem 1961, pp. 255–63 (Hebrew).

  69. Shaw Commission Report, general impression.

  70. PRO, CO 733/163, High Commissioner to SoS for the Colonies, 10 May 1929.

  71. Mattar, The Mufti, p. 46, notes 69 and 70.

  72. The Shaw Commission, session 46, p. 94.

  73. Ibid., session 31, p. 16.

  74. The Israeli State Archives, 65/2804, report from 23 August 1929.

  75. Al-Peleg, The Mufti, p. 27.

  76. Porath, The Emergence, p. 218.
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  CHAPTER 9

  1. Attiyeh, The Arab Palestinian, p. 125.

  2. Y. Reiter, ‘The Supervision on Managing the Muslim Waqf Affairs in Jerusalem Since the Mandatory Period, (1918–1990)’, Ha-Mizarch Ha-Hadash, 34 (1992), pp. 17–8 (Hebrew).

  3. The Shaw Commission, session 46, p. 92.

  4. Ibid., p. 103.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinians, p. 106.

  7. An image from Darwaza, Memories, vol. 2, appendix. See Y. Porath, From Riots to Revolt, 1929–1939, Tel Aviv 1978, p. 39 (Hebrew).

  8. Ibid.

  9. Al-Jamaa’ al-Arabiyya, 12 November 1931; S. Hamada, The Consciousness, p. 188.

  10. The speech quoted in Journal of the Central Asian Society, vol. XVII (January 1910), pp. 93–8.

  11. Portah, From Riots, p. 55.

  12. Ibid., p. 20.

  13. M. Kupferschmidt, ‘The General Muslm Congress of 1931 in Jerusalem’, Asian and African Studies, vol. 12 (1971), pp. 132–3.

  14. PRO, CO 733/197, Interview of the High Commissioner with the Mufti, 5 October 1930.

  15. Landman, The Arabs, p. 23.

  16. M. Kramer, Islam Assembled, New York 1996, p. 126.

  17. K. Qasmiyyeh, The First Arab Pioneer: The Lives and Papers of Nabih and Adel al-Azma, Damascus 1991, p. 209 (Arabic).

  18. Al-Sifari, Arab, p. 178.

  19. Porath, Riots, p. 26; Al-Peleg, The Mufti, p. 33.

  20. Porath, ibid., p. 27.

  21. Kramer, Islam, p. 127.

  22. Khoury, Syria, pp. 539, 553.

  23. Kramer, Islam, p. 132. On the biographer’s embarrassment, see Muhsin, The Mother, p. 139.

  24. Al-Peleg, The Mufti, p. 32.

  25. A. H. Ghana’im, ‘The Pan-Islamist Congress, 1931’, Shuun Filastiniyya, 25 (September 1973), pp. 124–5 (Arabic).

  26. The Shaw Commission.

  27. Quoted in T. Mayer, ‘Egypt and the General Islamic Conference of Jerusalem 1931’, Middle Eastern Studies, 18/3 (1982), p. 311, note 46.

  28. Kramer, Islam, p. 127.

  29. According to an informant’s report in Central Zionist Archives S25/3557.

  30. Offer, The Crystallization, p. 332.

  31. The French Report.

  32. K. Stein, The Land Question in Palestine, 1917–1939, North Carolina 1985, pp. 233–5.

  33. I wish to thank Dr Mustafa Abasi for providing me with the letter.

  34. Mattar, The Mufti, p. 245.

  35. Al-Dabagh, The History, part 2, chapter 10, p. 387.

  36. Muhsin, The Mother, pp. 149–52; based on an unpublished MS by Qasim al-Rimawi, A Biography of Abd al-Qadir.

  37. This description is taken from Muhsin, ibid., pp. 142-144, and Qasmiyyeh, The First.

  38. Filastin, third year, no. 23, January 1923, pp. 8–10.

  39. Ghana’im, ‘The Pan’, p. 258.

  40. The committee’s report, p. 31.

  41. Laval, Al-Hajj, pp. 29–30.

  42. Y. Ohana-Arnon, A Sword at Home, Tel Aviv 1981, p. 26 (Hebrew).

  43. The Hagana Archives, section 47, file 7, 20 September 1937.

  44. B. Dinnur, The Hagana Book, vol. 2, part 1, Tel Aviv 1967, p. 451 (Hebrew).

  45. Ohana-Arnon, Sword, p. 250.

  46. Attiyeh, The Arab, p. 130.

  47. PRO, FO 371/78, file 178, Jerusalem to London, 15 October 1934.

  48. Nashashibi, The Last, p. 24.

  49. Mogannam, The Arab, p.76.

  50. Porath, Riots, p. 150.

  51. Filastin, third year, no. 23, September 1923, pp. 8–10.

  52. Porath, Riots, pp. 66–7.

  53. Central Zionist Archives, S25/4127, and Ohana-Arnon, Sword, p. 102.

  54. Offer, Crystallization.

  55. Dinnur, Hagana, vol. 2, part 1, p. 540.

  56. R. P. Mitchell, The Society of Muslim Brothers, London 1969, p. 154; Z. Abu Amru, The Origins of the Political Movements in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem 1989, p.63.

  57. I. Gershoni, ‘Muslim Brothers and the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–1939’, Middle Eastern Studies, 22/3 (1986), p. 337.

  58. C. Yasin, The Great Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–1939, Cairo 1959, pp. 21–2 (Arabic).

  59. A. Arslan, The Memoirs of Prince Adel Arslan, Beirut 1983, vol. 1, p. 43 (Arabic).

  60. Hammad, The Consciousness, p. 72.

  61. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinians, p. 61.

  62. Ghassan Kanafani’s 1935 article was translated into Hebrew in Derech Ha-Nizotz, 4 August 1988, p. 10.

  63. T. al-Nashef, ‘Political Elite in Palestine’, PhD thesis, New York 1974, pp. 86–8.

  64. Y. Herzog, ‘Contacts Between the Jewish Agency and the Palestinians, 1936–1939, The Arab Side: An Alternative or Integrative History?”, in I. Pappé (ed.), Arabs and Jews in the Mandatory Era: A New Look on the Historical Research, Givat Haviva 1992, p. 12.

  65. PRO, FO 371/20018, E1717, Report of the Chief of Police to the SoS for the Colonies, 2 March 1936.

  66. Herzog, ‘Contacts’, p. 13.

  67. Central Zionist Archives, S25/4146, Yeidot Yossef, 20 July 1936.

  68. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinians, p. 105.

  69. Ohana-Arnon, Sword, p. 35.

  70. Herzog, ‘Contacts’, p. 5.

  71. Ibid., p. 6.

  72. Al-Husayni, I Learned, p. 73.

  73. Ibrahim Skeik, Gaza, Jerusalem, Palestine throughout History, Jerusalem, 1996, p.35.

  74. http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/personalities/alpha_h.htm

  75. The letter and the memorandum were given to me by Mr. Farouk al-Husayni, the grandson of the Mayor together with very valuable information mentioned in these two paragraphs for which I am deeply grateful.

  76. Ibid.

  77. M. Cohen, The British Decision to Evacuate Palestine: 1947–1948, New York 1987, p. 18, note 49.

  78. A. Zuaytar, The Diaries of Akram Zuaytar, Beirut 1980, p. 220 (Arabic).

  79. Herzog, ‘Contacts’, p. 15.

  80. 13 July 1937; I wish to thank Yizhar Herzog for sharing this information with me.

  81. Porath, Riots, pp. 198–204.

  82. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinians, p. 116.

  83. Mattar, The Mufti, pp. 72–6.

  84. Zuaytar, Diaries, pp. 90–8.

  85. Y. Klein, The Arab Community in Haifa in the Mandatory Era, Haifa 1982, pp. 17–8 (Hebrew).

  86. Yehuda Litani, Al-Hamishmar, 31 December 1993.

  87. Israeli State Archives, The Mufti’s Personal File, a letter from Jamal to the High Commissioner, section 65, 376/2613.

  88. Laval, Al-Hajj, pp. 40–1.

  89. Kedourie, The Chatham.

  CHAPTER 10

  1. Mardini, Palestine, p. 102.

  2. J. and D. Kimche, Both Sides of the Hill: Britain and the Palestine War, London 1960, pp. 86–9, 98–9, 107. This source argued that the school was closed in 1936.

  3. The Shaw Commission, session 46, p. 109.

  4. J. Nevo, ‘Al-Hajj Amin and the British in World War II’, Middle Eastern Studies, 20/1 (January 1984), p. 4, note 6.

  5. Zuaytar, Diaries, p. 336.

  6. I want to thank Nadim Shadeh, the director of Lebanese Studies, Oxford, for this information. M. Fargeallah, Visages d’une époque, Paris, no date, p. 77.

  7. Y. R. al-Radayi, The 1936 Revolt: A Military Study, Acre 1986, p. 50 (Arabic).

  8. Laval, Al-Hajj, p. 34.

  9. Honig Report, 19 October 1938, in PRO, CO 733/379, document 75528/74/38, 24 August 1938.

  10. Qasmiyyah, The First, p. 327.

  11. Ibid., p.185.

  12. From an undated British Intelligence document in the Ben-Gurion Archives, Sdeh Boker, file 7-S-2. On the Azma brothers, see Qasmiyya, The First, p. 38; on the debates, see pp. 53–4.

  13. Arslan, Memoirs, 24 April 1935.

  14. Laval, Al-Hajj, pp. 44–5.

  15. Zuaytar, Diaries, p. 552.

  16. Ibid., pp. 398–487.

  17. An interview with Salma
al-Husayni (conducted by Dr Qatatu).

  18. E. Danin, The Arab Gangs, Jerusalem 1981, p. 13 (Hebrew).

  19. J. Nevo, ‘The High Commissioner and the Mufti: Harold MacMichael and Hajj Amin Al-Husayni’, Cathedra 64 (Apirl 1992), pp. 127–39 (Hebrew).

  20. City of Jerusalem Archive, session no. 20 of the Committee for Planning and Urbanization, 19 April 1937, and session 50, 29 March, 1939.

  21. Arslan, Memoirs, pp. 215–6, January 1939.

  22. Porath, Riots, p. 161.

  23. Ibid., p. 89.

  24. M. Abd al-Hadi, The Palestine Question and Its Political Solutions, Beirut 1975, p. 62 (Arabic).

  25. Porath, Riots, ibid.

  26. Ben-Gurion Archives, file 7-S-2, ibid.

  27. Arslan, Memoirs, vol. 1, 22 March 1939, p. 240.

  28. Al-Hut, The Political, pp. 746–66; I. M. al-Husayni, Akhbar al-Yawm, 19 October 1957.

  29. Kimmerling and Migdal, The Palestinians, p. 128, note 58.

  30. Schama, Rothschilds, p. 292.

  31. Mattar, The Mufti, p. 89.

  32. A. Zuaytar, Diaries, pp. 608–9.

  33. Nevo, The High, pp. 93–114.

  CHAPTER 11

  1. PRO, FO 371/23240, Baghdad to London, 2 November 1939.

  2. Darwaza, Memoirs, vol. 1, p. 226.

  3. Laval, Al-Hajj, p. 50.

  4. Ibid., pp. 52–3.

  5. Ibid., pp. 56 –7.

  6. W. Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 3, Boston 1952, p. 658.

  7. Mardini, Palestine, p. 138.

  8. The description here is taken from a program on TV5 (French television) on Françoise Ganeau, 20 July 1996.

  9. Schechtman, The Mufti, pp. 96–8.

  10. Kedourie, Chatham, pp. 165–6.

  11. K. Hadad, The Rashid Ali al-Galyani Movement of 1941, Sydon 1950, pp. 9–10 (Arabic); G. Muhafazza, The German-Palestinian Relationship, 1841– 1945, Beirut 1981, p. 234 (Arabic).

  12. Al-Peleg, The Mufti, p. 63.

  13. Ibid., p. 65.

  14. Laval, Al-Hajj, p. 64.

  15. Ibid., p. 65.

  16. Qasmiyyeh, The First, pp. 99, 103.

  17. Mardini, Palestine, p. 107.

  18. Laval, Al-Hajj, pp. 68–9.

  19. G. Carpi, ‘The Germans’ Plan to Occupy the Middle East through the Caucasus’, Et-Mol, 9/2 (1982), p. 14 (Hebrew).

  20. Mardini, Palestine, p. 171.

  21. Laval, Al-Hajj, pp. 69–70.

  22. Muhafazza, The German, p. 244; M. al-Ris, The Golden Book of the Arab Revolutions: The Iraq War 1941, Damascus 1977, pp. 72–4 (Arabic).