Until Palestinians Exorcise the Ghost of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, It Will Continue to Haunt Them

Besides being the anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence, July 4 this year marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Amin al-Husseini, who was appointed grand mufti of Jerusalem by the British in 1921 and remained the de-facto leader of the Palestinian national movement through 1948. Thereafter, Martin Kramer writes, he faded into obscurity. He explains why:

Many mistakenly believe his collaboration with Hitler and the Nazis discredited him. It didn’t. Not only did the Arabs not care, but Western governments eyed the mufti with self-interest. The general view in foreign ministries held that he had picked the wrong side in the war, but not more than that.

What finally discredited the mufti in Arab opinion, where it mattered most, was his role in the 1948 war. It was a war he wanted and believed his side would win. In late 1947, the British sent someone to see if there might be some behind-the-scenes flexibility in his stance on partition, which he had completely rejected. There wasn’t.

[The mufti’s] underestimation of the Zionists proved disastrous, even more so than his overestimation of the Axis. He later wrote his memoirs, blaming “imperialist” intervention, Arab internal divisions, and world Zionist mind-control for the 1948 defeat. To no avail: his name became inseparable from the Nakba, the loss of Arab Palestine to the Jews. His reputation hit rock bottom, along with that of the other failed Arab rulers of 1948.


https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/history-ideas/2024/07/until-palestinians-exorcise-the-ghost-of-the-grand-mufti-of-jerusalem-it-will-continue-to-haunt-them/