Faisal al-Husaini

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Faisal al-Husaini at a press conference in front of the Orienthaus in the summer of 1999
The Orienthaus in summer 1999

Faisal Abd al-Qadir al-Husaini ( Arabic فيصل عبد القادر الحسيني, DMG Faiṣal ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Ḥusainī ; * July 17, 1940 in Baghdad ; † May 31, 2001 in Kuwait ) was a Palestinian politician.

He came from the long-established Jerusalem al-Husaini family. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Amin al-Husseini , a Nazi collaborator, was his great-uncle. His father Abd al-Qadir al-Husaini was expelled from the British for his involvement in the Arab uprising in 1938 and fled to Iraq, where he took part in the 1941 coup against the pro-British government supported by Nazi Germany . In 1946 the family moved to Egypt . On April 8, 1948, the father was killed in the Palestinian War against Palmach troops at the Battle of Qastal near Jerusalem .

Faisal grew up as a half-orphan and studied in Cairo , Baghdad and Damascus . He was a founding member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in 1959.

In 1979 he founded the Arab Studies Society in the East Jerusalem Orienthaus , which among other things collected data on the population development of the Palestinians.

During the First Intifada he was its main organizer, which is why he was repeatedly imprisoned by the Israeli authorities.

At the Madrid conference in October 1991, al-Husaini was the highest representative of the Palestinian side because Israel did not want to negotiate directly with official PLO representatives.

After the introduction of the Palestinian Autonomy, he became a minister. He was the highest representative of the PLO in Jerusalem and was considered the secret mayor of East Jerusalem . His events and diplomatic receptions in the Orienthaus were a thorn in the side of the Israeli government because they saw Israeli sovereignty over the entire city of Jerusalem undermined. The Orienthaus was therefore repeatedly closed for "prohibited activities".

Faisal died of a heart attack while traveling abroad in Kuwait, where he wanted to improve relations with the local government that had been destroyed by Arafat.

His body was flown to Jordan and from there brought to Ramallah in a Jordanian Army helicopter. His funeral procession led from the Mukata to the Temple Mount . The Israeli army did not obstruct the procession from the West Bank and let the participants pass the border without being monitored. Arafat, however, did not dare to take part.

His successor as the PLO representative in Jerusalem was Sari Nusseibeh .

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SURNAME Husaini, Faisal al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES al-Husseini, Faisal Abdel Qader
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Palestinian politician
DATE OF BIRTH 17th July 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Baghdad
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 2001
Place of death Kuwait