Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni

Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni (1907-1948) was a Palestinian nationalist and fighter who in late 1933 founded the secret military group known as the Organization for Holy Struggle, (Munazzamat al-Jihad al-Muqaddas),^{[1] [2]} which he and Hasan Salama commanded as the Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army (Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas) in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. 'Abd-al-Ra'uf al-Qidwa al-Husayni, better known as Yasser Arafat (a distant relative) is reputed to have fought with him^[3] and to have been his personal secretary.^[4] The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Hasan Salama was a commander of the Palestinian Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas (Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army) in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 along with Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni. ... The Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army (Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas) was a force of Palestinian irregulars in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War led by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni and Hasan Salama. ... The 1948 Arab-Israeli War is referred to as the War of Independence (Hebrew: מלחמת העצמאות) or as the War of Liberation (Hebrew: מלחמת השחרור) by Israelis. ... Arafat redirects here; for the hill east of Mecca, see Mount Arafat Yasser Arafat (Arabic: ياسر عرفات‎) (August 4 or August 24, 1929 – November 11, 2004), born Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (محمد عبد الرؤوف القدوة الحسيني) and also known by the kunya Abu `Ammar (أبو عمّار), was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1969...

Husayni was born to the influential al-Husayni family in Jerusalem, son of Musa Qassem al-Husseini; his relatives included Amin al-Husayni. He graduated in chemistry at the American University in Cairo, and organized the Congress of Educated Muslims. Initially, he took a post in the settlement department of the British mandate government, but took to the Hebron Hills during the Great Uprising to lead the Palestinian resistance. Jerusalem (31°46′N 35°14′E; Hebrew: (help· info) Yerushalayim; Arabic: (help· info) al-Quds), Greek Ιεροσόλυμα, is an ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea at an elevation of 650-840 meters. ... Musa al-Husayni Musa Kazim al-Husayni (also spelled Husseini; Jerusalem, 1850- 1934) was nominated to several senior posts in the Ottoman administration. ... Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (ca. ... The American University in Cairo (AUC) in Cairo, Egypt, was founded in 1919 by American Missionaries, but quickly moved away from missionary endeavors in favor of being a strictly educational institution. ... Hebron (Arabic (help· info) al-Ḫalīl; Hebrew (help· info), Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: derived from the word friend) is a town in the Southern Judea region of the West Bank of around 130,000 Palestinians and 500 Israeli settlers. ... The Great Uprising, Great Revolt, or Great Arab Revolt was a violent rebellion by Arabs in the British Mandate of Palestine which lasted from 1936 to 1939. ...

In 1938 Husayni was exiled and in 1939 fled to Iraq where he took part in the Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani coup. He moved to Egypt in 1946, but secretly returned to Palestine to lead the Army of the Holy War in January 1948, and was killed during hand-to-hand fighting for control of Qastel Hill on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, on 8 April 1948. His forces captured Qastal from the Haganah, which had occupied the town six days earlier with a force of about 100 men who retreated to the Jewish settlement of Motza.^[5] The Iraq coup of 1941, also known as the Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani coup. ... al-Qastal was a Palestinian village that was captured by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ... Jerusalem (31°46′N 35°14′E; Hebrew: (help· info) Yerushalayim; Arabic: (help· info) al-Quds), Greek Ιεροσόλυμα, is an ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea at an elevation of 650-840 meters. ... April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Haganah Logo (1940s) The Haganah (Hebrew: The Defense, ההגנה) was a Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine during the British mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948. ...

Husayni was married and had two children. Faisal Husseini was his son. Faisal Abdel Qader Al-Husseini (July 17, 1940 - May 31, 2001) was a Palestinian politician who was considered a possible future leader of the Palestinian people. ...

Footnotes

1. ^  Swedenburg, 1999, p. 150
2. ^  Sayigh, 2000, p. 35
3. ^  Sayigh, 2000, p. 81.
4. ^  Robinson, 1997, p. 13.
5. ^  Dana Adams Schmidt, 'Arabs Win Kastel But Chief is Slain', New York Times, 9 April, 1948, p. 8 (A brief biography and account of the battle).

The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ...

References

• Robinson, Glenn E. (1997) Building a Palestinian State: The Incomplete Revolution. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253210828
• Sayigh, Yezid (2000). Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198296436
• Swedenburg, Ted (1999). The role of the Palestinian peasantry in the Great Revolt (1936-9). In Ilan Pappé (Ed.). The Israel/Palestine Question (pp. 129-168). London: Routledge. ISBN 041516947X

External links

• Handwritten letter by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni
• PASSIA