Evidence of Haj Amin al-Husseini1
Before the Royal Commission, January 12, 1937
Quote from text
SIR L. HAMMOND: His Eminence gave
us a picture of the Arabs being evicted from their land and villages being
wiped out. What I want to know is, did the
Government of Palestine, the Administration, acquire the land and then
hand it over to the Jews?
MUFTI: In most cases the lands were acquired.
SIR L. HAMMOND: I mean forcibly acquired-compulsory
acquisition as land would be acquired for public purposes?
MUFTI: No, it wasn't.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Not taken by compulsory
acquisition?
MUFTI: No.
Evidence of Haj Amin al-Husseini Before the
Royal Commission
LORD PEEL: ... Just one question, then. You
want completely to stop Jewish immigration. What do you want to do with
the 400,000 Jews here at present?
MUFTI: They will live as they always did
live previously in Arab countries, with complete freedom and liberty, as
natives of the country. In fact Moslem rule has always been known for its
tolerance, and as a matter of fact Jews used to come to Eastern countries
under Arab rule to escape persecution in Europe. According to history,
Jews had a most quiet and peaceful residence under Arab rule....
MUFTI: But I can say that the Jews, many
thousands, are actually living in Iraq and Syria under Arab rule and have
the same rights and the same position as the other inhabitants of the countries.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Would you give me the figures
again for the land. I want to know how much land was held by the Jews before
the Occupation.
MUFTI: First of all I would like to say
that one of the members of our Committee will deal later with the land
question, but nevertheless I will give you the figures. At the time of
the Occupation the Jews held about 100,000 dunams.
SIR L. HAMMOND: What year?
MUFTI: At the date of the British Occupation.
SIR L. HAMMOND: And now they hold how much?
MUFTI: About 1,500,000 dunams: 1,200,000
dunams already registered in the name of the Jewish holders, but there
are 300,000 dunams which are the subject of written agreements, and which
have not yet been registered in the Land Registry. That does not, of course,
include the land which was assigned, about 100,000 dunams.
SIR L. HAMMOND: What 100,000 dunams was
assigned. Is that not included in, the 1,200,000 dunams? The point is this.
He says that in 1920 at the time of the Occupation, the Jews only held
100,000 dunams, is that so? I asked the figures from the Land Registry,
how much land the Jews owned at the time of the Occupation. Would he be
surprised to hear that the figure is not 100,000 but 650,000 dunams?
MUFTI: It may be that the difference was
due to the fact that many lands were bought by contract which were not
registered.
SIR L. HAMMOND: There is a lot of difference
between 100,000 and 650,000.
MUFTI: In one case they sold about 400,000
dunams in one lot.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Who? An Arab?
MUFTI: Sarsuk. An Arab of Beyrouth.
SIR L. HAMMOND: His Eminence gave us a
picture of the Arabs being evicted from their land and villages being wiped
out. What I want to know is, did the Government of Palestine, the Administration,
acquire the land and then hand it over to the Jews?
MUFTI: In most cases the lands were acquired.
SIR L. HAMMOND: I mean forcibly acquired-compulsory
acquisition as land would be acquired for public purposes?
MUFTI: No, it wasn't.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Not taken by compulsory
acquisition?
MUFTI: No.
SIR L. HAMMOND: But these lands amounting
to some 700,000 dunams were actually sold?
MUFTI: Yes, they were sold, but the country
was placed in such conditions as would facilitate such purchases.
SIR I HAMMOND: I don't quite understand
what you mean by that. They were sold Who iold them?
MUFTI: Land owners.
SIR I HAMMOND: Arabs?
MUFTI: In most cases they were Arabs.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Was any compulsion put
on them to sell? If so, by whom?
MUFTI: As in other countries, there are
people who by force of circumstances, economic forces, sell their land.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Is that all he said?
MUFTI: They were not prevented from selling
the land, and mostly the country was in such economic condition as facilitated
the sale. If the Government had the interest of these poor people at heart
they should have prevented sales and these people would not have been evicted
from their land. A large part of these lands belong to absentee landlords
who sold the land over the heads of their tenants, who were forcibly evicted.
The majority of these landlords were absentees who sold their land over
the heads of their tenants. Not Palestinians but Lebanese.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Is His Eminence in a position
to give the Commission a list of the people, the Arabs who have sold lands,
apart from those absentee landlords?
MUFTI: I am sure the Department of Lands
can supply such a list.
SIR L. HAMMOND: I didn't ask him to tell
me where I could get the information from. I asked was he in a position
to give it to me.
MUFTI: It is possible for me to supply
such a list.
SIR L. HAMMOND: I ask him now this: does
he think that as compared with the standard of life under the Turkish rule
the position of the fellahin in the villages has improved or deteriorated?
MUFTI: Generally speaking I think their
situation has got worse.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Is taxation heavier or
lighter?
MUFTI: Taxation was much heavier then,
but now there are additional burdens.
SIR L. HAMMOND: I am asking him if it is
now, the present day, as we are sitting together here, is it a fact that
the fellahin has a much lighter tax than he had under the Turkish
rule? Or is he taxed more heavily?
MUFTI: The present taxation is lighter,
but the Arabs nevertheless have now other taxation, for instance, customs.
On this very point a member of the Arab Committee will deal.
LORD PEEL: On the burden of taxation?
MUFTI: Yes.
LORD PEEL: And the condition of the fellahin
as
regards, for example, education. Are there more schools or fewer schools
now?
MUFTI: They may have more schools, comparatively,
but at the same time there has been an increase in their numbers.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Is there any conscription
for the army now?
MUFTI: No.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Would the people like to
have that back?
MUFTI: Yes. Provided we have our own Government.
SIR L. HAMMOND: Then am I to take it from
his evidence that he thinks the Arab portion of the population would be
more happy if they reverted to a Turkish rule than under the present Mandatory
rule?
MUFTI: That is a fact.
1 The Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj
Amin al-Husseini was later the notorious Nazi who mixed Nazi propaganda
and Islam. He was wanted for war crimes and the slaughter of Jews
in Bosnia by Yugoslavia. His mix of militant propagandizing Islam
was an inspriation for both Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein. He was also
a close relative of Yasser Arafat and grandfather of the current Temple
Mount Mufti. "Arafat's actual name was Abd al-Rahman abd al-Bauf Arafat
al-Qud al-Husseini. He shortened it to obscure his kinship with the notorious
Nazi and ex-Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini." Howard
M. Sachar, A HISTORY OF ISRAEL (New York: Knopf, 1976). The
Bet Agron International Center in Jerusalem interviewed Arafat's brother
and sister, who described the Mufti as a cousin (family member) with tremendous
influence on young Yassir after the Mufti returned from Berlin to Cairo.
Yasser
Arafat himself keeps his exact lineage and birthplace secret. Saddam
Hussein was raised in the house of his uncle Khayrallah Tulfah, who was
a leader in the Mufti's pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in May 1941.
This page was produced by Joseph
E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious
History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York
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Source: "From Time Immemorial" by Joan
Peters, 1984
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