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Faisal Abdel
Qader Al-Husseini, son of the most renown Palestinian
national leader Abdel Qader Al-Husseini, was born as a
Palestinian in exile in Baghdad on the 17th of July
1940. He pursued his education in Cairo and later received
a B.A in Military Science from the Military College,
Syira in 1967.
In 1957, he joined the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), and later became active in Fateh, the largest PLO
faction after 1967. In the years that followed, he was
active against the occupation and was harassed by the consecutive
Israeli governments, who imposed travel bans
on him, jailed and put him under house arrest or
administrative detention.
In 1979, he founded the Arab Studies Society, a research and data collecting center in East
Jerusalem. In 1987-1991 the Arab Studies Society, which
was now located in a section of the Orient House, was
closed down by the Israeli Occupation Authorities.
After an coordinated international and local campaign
the Arab Studies Society was finally re-opened in the
spring of 1991.
Instrumental in the launching of the
Madrid peace process, Mr Husseini led a Palestinain
delegation to meet with U.S. Secretary of State, James
Baker, to lay the ground for the launching of the peace
talks between the PLO and Israel. Mr. Husseini was named Head of the Palestinian Team
to the
Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid, and despite
Israeli objections to his role in negotiations as a resident of
Jerusalem, he became the central figure in the peace
talks that opened the door for direct dialogue between
the PLO and Israel.
Since then Mr. Husseini turned the New
Orient House from a guset house in East Jerusalem into the headquarters of the Palestinian
Delegation to the peace talks. The Orient House is now a prominent center of Palestinian political,
social and cultural activities.
Mr. Husseini was the PLO Executive
Committee Member in Charge of Jerusalem Affairs. He also
maintained his position as Head of the Palestinian Team
to the Multilateral Peace Talks and was a member of the
Palestinain Committee for Final Status Negotiations as
Head of the Jerusalem Committee. He was a member of
dozens of local Palestinian institutions and was a
leading advocate of Palestinian rights in the Holy
City.
He was the highest-ranking Fatah official in Jerusalem
and the West Bank and met with many world leaders,
appeared in countless television interviews and has
written numerous articles and speeches. He also has been
the guest at many international conferences and gatherings
on the issue of Palestine and Jerusalem. He received the
American Peace Award, the Dr. Bruno Kreisky Award for
Human Rights in 1991 and later the Gleitsman Foundation
Award in 1999.
Mr. Husseini passed away on 31 May
2001 in Kuwait while pursuing his life long dream of
making Jerusalem a free capital of Palestine. He is
survived by his wife Najat Husseini, his son, AbdulQader
27 and his daughter, Fadwa 25, both of whom are graduates of Bir
Zeit University in Palestine. Last
Updated: 31 May, 2001
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