ARAB HIGHER COMMITTEE

(Redirected from Arab High Committee)
The 'Arab Higher Committee' was the central political organ of the Arab community of Palestine, established in 1936. It was formed by:

★ Amin al-Husayni (who was appointed its president) and

★ Raghib al-Nashashibi, National Defence Party (NDP), along with

★ Jamal al-Husayni, Palestine Arab Party (PAP),

★ Yaqub al-Ghusayn, Youth Congress Party (YCP),

★ Abd al-Latif Salah, National Bloc (NB),

★ Husayin al-Khalidi, Reform Party (RP) and

★ Awni Abd al-Hadi, the leader if the Istiqlal (Independence) Party, who was appointed General Secretary (Levenberg, 1993, p. 7). It was outlawed by the British in 1937 (Sayigh, 2000, p. 8).
As of April 1946 the members were:

★ Jamal al-Husayni,

★ Tewfiq al-Husayni,

★ Yusif Sahyun,

★ Kamil al-Dajani,

★ Emile al-Ghury,

★ Rafiq al-Tamimi and

★ Anwar al-Khatib (all members of or affiliated with the Palestine Arab Party);

★ Dr Izzat Tannus (an independent Christian medical doctor);

★ Antone Attallah (a member of the Greek Orthodox community);

★ Ahmad al-Shukayri (a lawyer from Acre and an Arab nationalist);

★ Sami Taha (head of PAWS) and

★ Dr Yusif Haykal (the mayor of Jaffa, who was politically independent) (Khalaf, 1991, pp. 121-122).
By mid-1946, when the committee moved to Cairo due to al-Husayni's exile from the British Mandate for Palestine and then from Europe due to his Nazi criminal record, membership had dwindled to just al-Husayni, al-Khalidi, Hilmi Pasha and al-Ghury, but at the beginning of 1947 the AHC was expanded to include the four remaining core members plus Hasan Abu Sa'ud, Izhak Darwish al-Husayni, Izzat Darwaza, Rafiq al-Tamimi and Mu'in al-Madi. This restructuring of the AHC to include additional supporters of Amin al-Husayni was seen as a bid to increase his political power (Khalaf, 1991, p. 129-130).
Jordanian politician Anwar Nusseibeh criticized the Arab Higher Committee's performance during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as being unaware and ineffective at best and ambivalent at worst to the needs of the Palestinian Arab population. In a personal note, Nusseibeh wrote, "Obviously they thought of the Palestine adventure in terms of an easy walkover for the Arabs, and the only point that seemed to worry them was credit for the expected victory. ... [They] were determined that the Palestine Arabs should at all costs be excluded." (as cited in Segev, 2001).

Contents

References

References

★ Khalaf, Issa (1991). ''Politics in Palestine: Arab Factionalism and Social Disintegration, 1939-1948''. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-0707-1

★ Levenberg, Haim (1993). ''Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine: 1945-1948''. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3439-5

★ Sayigh, Yezid (2000). ''Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829643-6

★ Segev, Tom. ''One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate''. Trans. Haim Watzman. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001.