Arab Higher Committee - Post-war Period

Post-war Period

After the end of the war, Amin al-Husayni managed to find his way to Egypt and stayed there until 1959, when he moved to Lebanon. On 22 March 1945, the Arab League was formed. In November 1945, it reconstituted the Arab Higher Committee comprising twelve members as the supreme executive body of Palestinian Arabs in the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine. The committee was dominated by the Palestine Arab Party and was immediately recognised by Arab League countries. The Mandate government recognised the new Committee two months later. In February 1946, Jamal al-Husayni returned to Palestine and immediately set about reorganising and enlarging the Committee, becoming its acting president. The Istiqlal Party and other nationalist groups objected to these moves, and formed a rival Arab Higher Front.

As of April 1946, the members of the reconstituted Committee 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)
  • 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 Palestine Arab Workers Society
  • Yusif Haykal (the mayor of Jaffa, who was politically independent)

In May 1946, the Arab League ordered the dissolution of the AHC and AHR and formed a five-member Arab Higher Executive, under Amin al-Husayni's chairmanship, and based in Cairo. The new AHE consisted of:

  • Amin al-Husayni, as chairman
  • Jamal al-Husayni, as vice-chairman
  • Husayin al-Khalidi
  • Emile al-Ghury
  • Abd al-Baqi

In January 1947, it was renamed as "Arab Higher Committee", with Amin al-Husayni as its chairman and Jamal al-Husayni as vice-chairman, and 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.

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