Husseini, Amin el (Grand Mufti of Jerusalem), 1893-1974

Husseini was an active opponent of the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine and fomented the Arab revolt of 1936 in Palestine. In October 1939 the Mufti visited Iraq which, under Nuri el-Said, was proBritish. Pressure from the Mufti and support from within Iraq from Arab freedom fighters helped to bring down the pro-British government replacing it with the pro-German government of RASHID Ali (1 April 1941). The new government was short-lived; the successful British invasion of Iraq, 2 May 1941, forced Husseini into exile in Germany. He spent the rest of the war working for the Axis and introduced units of Moslems into the ranks of the German Army. In 1945 he was placed under house arrest in France but escaped to Cairo in May 1946.