It would not be possible to understand the roots of the complex Arab-Israeli conflict without a thorough reference to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (elected in 1921) Amin Al Husseini.
He was the undisputed leading figure of the Palestinians in the critical decades of the 1920s and 1930s.
He denied three times the creation of a Palestinian state, when in fact the diplomatic balance was favorable for the Palestinians.
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The first time he refused when the British proposed the partition of Palestine with the plan Peel in 1937, after the great Arab uprising of 1936 against the British and the Jewish community. It recommended the permanent abolition of the British Mandate with the exception of a corridor around Jerusalem extending to the Mediterranean coast and the partition of the territories between an Arab and a Jewish state. Amin Al Husseini said no.
The second time when the "White Paper" was proposed in 1939, again by the British. It was a highly pro-Arab proposal (the Jews considered it a betrayal of themselves), because the British wanted to entice the Arabs to have them - taking the support of the Jews as a given - allies in World War II. The "White Paper" proposed, among other things, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in less than 10 years (more on the White Paper, in my two articles of the past weeks, which you can read here and here). Amin Al Husseini said no.
The third time was in the UN resolution in 1947, which spoke of the creation of two independent states, one Jewish and one Palestinian. The Jews enthusiastically accepted it; Amin Al Husseini as the representative of the Arab High Commission again said no.
His life and state
Amin al-Husseini was born in 1897 in Jerusalem. He was a member of the Husayni family which claimed to be descendants of Al Husayn Ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
In his youth he trained to one day become a mufti. In 1913 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. During World War I he joined the Ottoman army which he left to return to Jerusalem in 1917. After the British victory over the Ottomans and their arrival in Palestine, he cooperated with the British and became a "devout Muslim serving a Christian army" . He fought on the side of the English against the Ottomans and their German allies.
20 years later he will request the cooperation of the Nazis against the Jewish enemy.
After the end of the war he becomes a member of Al Nadi, a secret society that fights for the independence of Syria-Palestine.
In 1920, he was among the main instigators of the anti-Jewish program that resulted in 10 dead Jews and over 250 injured. He is sentenced to 10 years in prison for his participation, but escapes to Damascus before being arrested.
The British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel who had just arrived in Palestine after the Allied Mandate to the British pardoned him as a gesture of appeasement, and when in 1921 the Mufti of Jerusalem died – who was his half-brother – he favored his candidacy.
Arab society is structured and operates on the basis of factions. In Palestine there were six major factions that controlled all social structures. The Mufti of Jerusalem by tradition was always a member of the Husayni clan which ruled the entire Jerusalem area and was the most powerful and respected among the great families. The British definitely wanted the Mufti to be a member of the Hussaini faction because they believed this would help them maintain order. According to the law an election is held with candidates for this important position, and the supreme committee of the English chooses one of the first three candidates.
Much to the surprise of the English favorite comes fourth. The problem will be overcome if, without hesitation, the English will trample on the procedures, cancel the elections and decide to appoint the fourth in line Amin Al Husseini Mufti of Jerusalem, who moreover is very young (24 years old) does not have all the necessary qualifications, nor the required theological Koranic studies, but nevertheless he will take the position.
They will fall out in their calculations because while they calculated that they will be able to control the policy of the twenty-four year old Mufti; he will follow a completely anti-English policy.
Deeply anti-Jewish, a staunch anti-Zionist, he felt that Arab nationalism in order to counter Jewish nationalism could not be mobilized on the basis of the concept of nation as interpreted by the West. A deep acquaintance of the Palestinian people, he believed that this concept of nation was unknown and could not touch the Arab society, which was rural in 90%, illiterate and structured in the clan system. Thus, he will place as a central axis against Zionism the religion of Islam, which he will politicize.
It is a radical change in the Arab-Jewish conflict. With fiery speeches to the faithful, fanaticism and the rise of national but also religious identity, the decade of the 20's led by Amin Al Husseini will sow the seed of political Islam that exists today.
The Jewish-Palestinian conflict under his guidance will gradually transform into a Judaism-Islamic conflict and quite quickly into a West-East (Arab-Muslim) conflict; a shock of civilizations.
He is the most powerful Arab official and the position of Mufti allows him to control all aspects of Arab society.
Thus, Islam from a simple religion will gradually begin to transform into an ideology, a way of life, a political program.
In 1931, he organized the World Islamic Congress. From this moment on, the Palestinian question becomes the affair of all Muslims.
In 1935, the Husseini family founded their own political party. On his initiative, the leaders of the Arab factions form the Supreme Arab Committee and assign it the presidency. It advocates the expulsion of most Jews from Palestine, consenting only to the stay of Jews who lived at the end of the 19th century and had always resided in Palestine.
Terms and definitions
At this point I think it is important to make some clarifications in relation to the use of some terms to avoid misunderstandings.
The term Islam refers to religion in general. The term Islamism refers to a political, religious, cultural movement. It is the movement of extreme Muslims. One who follows the religion of Islam is not an Islamist but a Muslim. In the past in Greece we used more often the term Mohammedan, denoting the follower of the religion of Mohammed.
In this sense, an Islamist is certainly a Muslim, but a Muslim is not necessarily an Islamist.
In the bosom of Islam, Jihadism also appeared, which in Greek could be translated as holy war.
Jihadists are extreme Islamists.
This movement claims the implementation of Islamic law as the law of the state by violent means. A Jihadist is certainly an Islamist, but an Islamist is not necessarily a Jihadist.
The Grand Mufti and the Nazis
After the rise of the Nazis to power, who are not indifferent to what is happening in Palestine, around the end of March 1933 the German consul in Palestine telegraphed Hitler:
"Today I met the Grand Mufti who emphatically confirmed to me his support for the Nazi party and the new regime and the need to combat the harmful influence of the Jews on the economy and politics."
A month later he asks Germany not to send any more Jews to Palestine.
He seeks close contacts with the Nazi party and a long-term alliance against the Jews.
Goebbels supports the Mufti's policy, contacts are made carefully and secretly so as not to provoke the British. Germany financially supports the Arab revolt of ΄36-΄39 against the British and Jewish colonization. The main instigator of this rebellion is the Mufti of Jerusalem. In the same vein and phraseology as the Nazis during this uprising he characterizes the Jews as "The scum of the earth and the germs that carry the plague."
Some rebel Arabs wear the swastika.
In 1937, he is accused by the British of murdering the British commissioner in Galilee, he is stripped of the title of Mufti (It does not prevent him, of course, from keeping it and signing in all his official contacts as "The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem") . He is wanted and escapes to Lebanon and then to Iraq.
In support of Rashid Ali Al Gilani taking power in Iraq he issued a fatwa on Iraqi radio calling Muslims to Jihad against the UK. British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi war forces him to flee to imperial Iran. After the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran he fled to Rome.
On October 27, 1941 he was received by Benito Mussolini who accepted the principle of supporting the Axis for his cause.
The hostility of both sides towards the Jews and Zionism is expressed; moreover, Mussolini and Fascist Italy have also financially supported the Arab revolutionaries during the revolt of 36-39.
On November 28, 1941, he is received by Hitler who explains to him that National Socialism's motives for "persisting in a merciless struggle against the Jews" are their (the Jews') efforts to destroy Germany, and refers to their responsibility for the outbreak of World War I and the rise of communism.
The Mufti answers him:
"We Arabs believe that Zionism is the source of all this sabotage."
He will remain in Germany until 1945 with his entire entourage (more than 50 people) and will receive for his services to the Nazis 5,000,000 German marks per month from the Foreign Office and the SS office.
In January 1941 he wrote to Hitler:
“Your Excellency,
The sympathy of the Arab world towards Germany is a given. The Arab peoples will be ready to act against the common enemy on all fronts and rise up enthusiastically against the Anglo-Jewish alliance to help defeat it.
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
Amin Al Husseini"
In April 1941 he wrote to Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister:
"Mr. Minister,
We assure you of the will of the Arab people to contribute to the final victory against our common enemy. We beg you to give to the Arab countries oppressed by the British, all your possible support in their struggle for liberation, to recognize their national sovereignty and independence, to consent to their union as well as to the disappearance of the national home of the Jewish people in Palestine.
Amin Al Husseini
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem"
In the summer of 1942, Rommel's troops are heading for Egypt, at the same time the Germans have already conquered Crete, and the Caucasus front is heading south with Jerusalem as its final destination.
The Mufti wants to join the fighting and puts himself in charge of Arab legions trained by the Germans along with Arab and Maghreb volunteers recruited from Greece. They never had the opportunity to participate in combat, as did a special SS unit stationed in Athens, death squads whose purpose was to exterminate the Jews of Palestine after victory, as Rommel had hoped for on the North African front.
He was the main guide of the central Islamic Institute of Berlin which was established with the support of the Nazi regime and was known throughout the Islamic world. From Berlin, he directs the Palestinian resistance and spreads pro-Nazi propaganda to the world's non-Arab Muslims and tries to convince Indians, Uighurs, Caucasians, Crimean Tatars to side with Germany. His word has more and more weight for the Germans and for his services the Nazi regime rewards him richly.
Luxury mansions, country houses, luxury office.
He creates a wide circle of relationships with the most important Nazi officials.
Goebbels, Himmler, Göring, Adolf Eichmann, Baldur von Schirach, head of the Hitler Youth, had close contacts with the Mufti of Jerusalem.
In 1943, he will suggest that the Germans bomb Jerusalem to prevent the World Zionist Congress from taking place even though he knows that his closest relatives and most of his family live in Jerusalem.
His fanatical speeches in Berlin's only Mosque subtly mix religious anti-Semitism and racism.
Muftis is informed about the fate that the Nazis have in store for the Jews at the beginning of 1942 from Adolf Eichmann himself. He is impressed by what he hears and deeply satisfied.
His friend Himmler, the head of the SS, will personally inform him of the progress of the process of the final solution for the Jews, telling him:
"To date we have exterminated approximately 3 million Jews."
At this time trains were constantly transporting Jews from all over Europe to the extermination camps, however, some Jews managed to escape with the help of the British and the Red Cross and escape to Palestine.
Amin Al Husseini works with Himmler and corresponds with the Foreign Ministries of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to draw their attention and increase controls so that no Jews escape to Palestine. For everyone there is only one horizon; the crematoria.
He addresses the following letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.
"Mr. Minister,
Let me observe that it would be more appropriate and more effective to prevent the Jews from leaving your country (meaning to Palestine) and send them to areas where they would be more controlled, like Poland for example. It will be a way to remove the threat they represent and a good deed to the Arab peoples who will recognize it and repay you in the future.
Please accept my sincere greetings
Amin Al Husseini
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem"
From Czeszow, 50 km south of Berlin where he sets up a radio station, he broadcasts propaganda broadcasts to the Arab Muslim world, where he urges listeners to "kill the Jews wherever they are found because it pleases God, history and religion".
One of his loyal listeners at the time was the young Khomeini.
In May 1943, he spearheaded the recruitment of Muslims from Bosnia to form the 13th Mountain Division of the Waffen SS.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been annexed by fascist Croatia and is fighting on the side of the Germans. Bosnian Muslims sympathize with the Nazis because they believe they have friendly feelings towards Islam.
It is a good opportunity for the Mufti to show how useful he can be to the Nazis, Germany has conquered Yugoslavia but the fierce resistance of Tito's partisans forces them to reinforce their presence, and in February 1943 Hitler orders the creation of additional divisions in Bosnia.
Himmler starts a recruitment campaign and Amin Al Husseini travels to Bosnia and organizes the SS group called Hansaar (name of an Arabic sword), Himmler will declare that "Balkan Muslims are a superior people". The Muslim SS declare allegiance to Hitler and are ready to fight to the death; their strength amounts to 20,000 soldiers.
In consultation with Hitler, Amin Al-Husseini is charged with the training and political guidance of the Muslim division of the Waffen SS. Himmler after inspecting the Khazaar unit will state:
"I must confess that I have nothing against Islam· it fashions these soldiers in a most suitable manner, it promises them heaven if they fall in battle, it is a religion useful to a soldier.''
After Yugoslavia the Hansaar division will fight on the eastern front against the advancing Soviets and will be present in Berlin before the final fall.
The Muslim Waffen SS soldiers will remain to defend Berlin, but the Mufti will leave before the final fall after first transferring his money and gold he owned to a Swiss bank.
At the time when Soviet soldiers were raising the red flag in Berlin, he was escaping to Switzerland via Austria on a German plane. He will be denied entry to Switzerland and will end up in the Paris suburbs.
His presence in the French capital will create intense reactions and friction between the Jewish community and France, and the French, in order to get rid of him, will grant him through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a passport with a false name thanks to which he will escape to Kairo in May 1946.
Jerusalem prepares a triumphant reception for him which the English prevent.
He would lead the unification of Arab armies against Israel immediately after its establishment in 1948.
Shortly before the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel, in 1961, he will deny the accusations of his participation in the holocaust from Beirut where he resided.
He will die in Beirut in July 1974 at the age of 77.
In his book "Jihad and hatred against the Jews" Matthias Künzel lists several points in common between Islam and Nazism:
"The deification of the leader, the honor of falling in battle, the superiority of the whole over the individual, the family over work, the struggle against Jewishness."
One of the most authoritative French historians of Moroccan origin, an expert on the subject of the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the left-wing Georges Bensoussan comprehensively refers to the role of the Mufti of Jerusalem in his book "The Origins of the Israeli-Arab Conflict ».
*Cover photo: Amin Al Husseini meeting with Hitler in November 1941, wikipedia