Musa Qassem Al-Husseini (Basha)

(1853 - 1934)

Born in 1853; graduate from the Istanbul School of Administration; held many administrative positions (among others district Governor of Yemen, 1908) in the Ottoman Empire from which he retired on the eve of World War I; appointed mayor of Jerusalem (March 1918), but removed by the British for opposing their pro-Zionist policies in April 1920; leading figure in the Jerusalem branch of the MCA in 1919; from then until his death he led the Palestinian national movement; leader and spokesperson of the opposition to the British Mandate; belonged to the pro-Husseini majlesiyoun faction; elected representative of Jerusalem to the 3rd (December 1920, Haifa), 5th (August 1922, Nablus), 6th (June 1923, Jaffa) and 7th (June 1928) Congress of the Arab Executive Committee; elected president of the Arab Executive Committee at the 3rd Congress in Haifa, 14 Dec. 1920 and held this position in all congresses until 1928 and generally until his death; head and member of the Palestinian Delegations to London in the 1920-30s; leader of the demonstration protesting Zionist mass immigration in Jaffa, 27 October 1933 where he was injured which hastened his death on March 27, 1934; father of Abd al-Qader al-Husseini

Sources: PASSIA