Faisal Husseini

(17th July 1940- 31st May 2001)

While not as well-known as Yasser Arafat, Husseini’s presence in Palestinian history covers much the same timespan and their stories frequently cross paths, sometimes as allies, but sometimes as rivals. It must certainly have frustrated Arafat that Husseini was present at the Madrid talks in 1991, but not himself.

Husseini’s family background was a big factor in his reputation. He was born in Baghdad, where his father had taken refuge after a failed revolt against British rule in Palestine, but his ancestors had been active in Jerusalem’s political and religious life since the 19^th Century. One skeleton in the family’s closet was his grandfather’s connection with Hitler; the two had met when his grandfather stayed in wartime Berlin, before helping recruit Bosnian Muslims for the Nazi war effort.

Some Israelis later tried, unsuccessfully, to use this incident in history to associate the PLO with the Nazis. But Faisal himself had a relatively close relationship with the State of Israel. As a Hebrew speaker, he was frequently a guest on Israeli media, speaking to their people about the Palestinian cause in their own language. This caused controversy among both sides at the time; speaking to the PLO was illegal under Knesset rules, and likewise, the PLO was devoted to armed struggle rather than engagement.

He first met Yasser Arafat in 1949. Faisal was still a boy living in his family’s then home in Cairo when Arafat visited them to read a poem dedicated to Palestinian martyrs (including Husseini’s late father). By the 1960s, Husseini had returned to Jerusalem and was running the PLO’s local affairs from a building in the East of the city, known as Orient House. The building was despised by some Israeli governments as a symbol of PLO presence in the city, but Faisal resisted pressure to close it down. In fact, he once hosted an EU delegation there. His time in Israeli prisons included a spell after the 1967 war for storing Arafat’s weapons, and another spell in the late 1980s. He was already behind bars when the first Intifada started in 1987, but became a spokesman for it on his release in 1989.

His working relationship with Arafat took another twist a year later when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Arafat backed Saddam’s actions, weakening his standing in the international community. When the resounding Allied victory came in 1991, the American administration was encouraged to press on and resolve further Middle East problems, leading to the Madrid peace conference in September. Arafat’s recent support for Saddam made him unwelcome. Husseini led the Palestinian delegation instead.

Husseini became a frequently seen public figure for the next 2 years. His status on the world stage threatened to eclipse Arafat’s as that of the definitive Palestinian figure. But in 1993, the Oslo accords saw Arafat publicly endorsed as Palestinian leader on the White House lawn by both Bill Clinton and Yitzak Rabin. Husseini remained involved in helping to run Palestinian affairs, but he was critical of the Oslo accords. He felt the future of Jerusalem should have been resolved in early stages rather than delayed until final status talks. In this post-Oslo world, he was once more a threat to Arafat’s dominance of domestic politics, and had to tread the tightrope between criticising Arafat’s handling of the peace process and not being seen to cause disunity.

Husseini died of a heart attack in 2001. He lived long enough to see the second intifada break out, but not the 9/11 attacks in New York or the impact their aftermath would have on Middle Eastern affairs. Perhaps the saddest irony of his death is that he was in Kuwait at the time, trying to rebuild the bridges Arafat had burned in his support for Saddam: the very mistake that almost made Husseini himself Palestinian leader.

Words by Salem Hanna